Sapphire Journeys
by B0ltzy
Summary: The newest resident of the Hoenn region, Brendan Maple, wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do with his life when he arrived in his new home. Life, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly where it wanted him to go. Based off my playthrough of Alpha Sapphire.
1. New Arrivals

_Day 3(?): I don't know how long I have been trapped in this truck. The only light I have is this flashlight I found and what light sneaks through the doors, my phone having died soon after I was put in here. I only hear muffled voices coming from the cab of the truck, but nothing that can give away where we are going. When I look through the crack in the door, I can see various creatures darting around behind us, but nothing-_

The truck came to a stop, sending the boy tumbling back from its doors. As he came to a halt, a large mass finally dislodged itself from its precarious perch on top of a shelf, landing on top of him. The boy let out a groan, as a door slammed outside the truck. As he struggled out from underneath whatever fell on him, the doors at the back of the bay came open, dazzling the boy with sunlight. Wasting no time, the young man charged into the light with a shout.

A cry of "FREEDOM!" ripped from the boy's lips as he leapt from the truck, falling to the ground and kissing it.

"Brendan, what are you doing? You were only in there for a few hours." Brendan looked up to see a confused looking woman staring down at him, as a troop of Machokes moved past him into the truck. One popped back out carrying the large Snorlax doll that had fallen on him when the truck had stopped moving, while others carried boxes; Brendan saw one labelled with his father's name, Norman Maple.

"It was way too dark in there, Mom, and Arachne just hung out in the corner and spun her web the whole time," Brendan complained, pointing back to the truck as a Spinarak scuttled out, just ahead of an angry Machoke with a face full of web.

Catching the frightened Bug as she leapt into her arms, Brendan's mother just shook her head and gestured to their new home. "Well, now that you have been released from your horrible prison, welcome to Littleroot Town. Do you want to go check out your room? The movers should have all your stuff in there by now. And after that you should go say hello to the neighbours. I heard the house next door belongs to Professor Birch, and he has a daughter your age."

Brendan nodded and got up, trying to sneakily get the taste of dirt out of his mouth. He wasn't quite sure why people were always shown kissing the ground, but he had figured he might as well give it a try once. Weaving around the stream of Machoke movers, Brendan made his way into his new home, paused to glare at his new Snorlax shaped nemesis, and then climbed the stairs to his new room. After making sure everything was in order, he left his phone to charge in an outlet and made his way back outside, heading to the house his mother had indicated as Professor Birch's. He rang the doorbell and waited.

A few seconds later, the door open, revealing a motherly looking woman. "Oh, hello dear. I'm Maria Birch. Are you the new neighbour?"

Brendan nodded. "Yeah, my name is Brendan Maple, and that's my mom Angela," he pointed back to his mother, who waved before going back to directing the movers. "Is Professor Birch in? I was hoping to meet him."

Maria thought for a few seconds before shaking her head. "I think he's out doing field work right now, but he should be back at his lab later today. If you wanted to pass the time, you could come in and meet my daughter, and then she could show you around the lab until he shows up?"

"That sounds like a great idea, Mrs. Birch, thank you." Brendan said, accepting her invitation and stepping into the house, following her directions up the stairs and to his new neighbour's room.

Brendan walked along the upstairs hallway before he reached an open doorway, and looked in. Inside the room, he could see a girl rummaging around a desk, transferring various objects from it to the bag she had sitting on top. Brendan knocked on the door frame, as she seemed to engrossed in her task to notice him.

"Ahh!" The girl jumped slightly at the interruption, before turning to look at her intruder. Brendan gave a little wave. "Oh! Are you the new neighbour? It's nice to meet you, my name's May!"

May approached with her hand held out, and Brendan reached out and shook it. "Nice to meet you, May, my name's Brendan."

May nodded and stepped back, before letting her eyes rove over his body. "Was that you that jumped out of the truck screaming earlier? Because you're still covered in dirt."

Brendan looked down at himself. With the distraction of checking out his room and then meeting his new neighbours, he hadn't really paid attention to how he looked, and the front of his jacket and shorts were still quite dusty. "Yeah, that might have been me. In my defense, that truck was really dark and our Spinarak just spun her web in a corner the whole time. Not a lot to do back there."

May laughed a little at his explanation and then grabbed her bag of off her desk. "Well, do you want me to show you around Dad's lab? He'll be busy until a little later, but I can show you a bit of what he does, he's been teaching me about being a Pokemon Professor. He might even offer you a Pokemon, he usually gives them out around this time of year."

"Awesome! Can we just stop by my house for a second? I need to grab some stuff from my room."

The pair exited May's house and made the quick walk over to Brendan's. Brendan introduced May to his mother and then went up to his room, grabbing his bag and phone. As he came back downstairs, he saw that his mother had already placed May in a couch and had broken out the photo albums, despite him only being gone for about two minutes. Extracting a partially amused, partially disturbed May from his mother's clutches with a promise of bringing her back later, the two teenagers began the walk towards the Birch laboratory, talking about their lives before they met.

"...and then Arachne had been with me in my room all day, so we never did find out what had covered the neighbour's car in webbing."

May let out an amused snort, before launching into her own story. "Well, I remember a time when Dad was out studying a pack of Zigzagoon, and he ended up calling most of a swarm of-"

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

May's face morphed from one of amusement to one of pale terror almost immediately. "Oh God. That was my dad." She seized Brendan's arm and pulled him towards the path out of town; Brendan saw a sign with **ROUTE 101** printed on it. "We've got to go to him, come on!"

Brendan nodded and started running with her, leaving the safety of Littleroot Town behind them. The pair sprinted up the path, Brendan falling in behind May when she warned him to avoid the taller patches of grass. After several minutes of their breakneck pace, Brendan and May eventually came up to a mostly clear portion of the trail, which only had a few trees as its most interesting feature. In a tree that seemed to be growing out of a little dip in the landscape. Brendan could see a fairly large man in a lab coat, looking terrified out of his mind and bleeding from his left leg.

"DAD!" May shouted, starting to run to him, but the Professor held up a hand and yelled back, somehow looking even more scared of his daughter approaching the tree.

"Don't come any closer, May! There are two Poochyena down here, trying to get at me. I stepped on one's tail when I was trying to get a picture of some Wingull. If you get near them, they might try to get you."

"What do we do then, Dad?" May asked, stress making her voice much harsher than what Brendan was used to.

"I think I dropped my bag over by you two. There are three Pokemon in there that I've been studying and training. They should be able to drive off these two-GAHH!" The professor's words had been punctuated by a shout of fear as a small black mass leapt at him from the ground, getting within inches of his legs.

May and Brendan began searching around for the bag, which Brendan quickly found in the middle of a bush. Opening it up, Brendan grabbed the first Pokeball he could, noting the piece of tape with "Torchic" written on it. May reached the bag a second later and grabbed the next ball, with "Mudkip" taped to it. The two rushed back to the tree Professor Birch was trapped in, which the two Poochyena were still trying to jump up. With a nod to one another, the two teenagers threw out their Pokeballs, calling for the creatures contained inside.

"Go, Torchic!"

"Go, Mudkip!"

As the light from the balls cleared, Brendan could make out a small orange bird and a what looked like a blue cross between a dog and a fish, both in fighting stances. The lightshow had not been ignored by the two aggressive Pokemon either, as they abandoned their attack on Professor Birch to face down the new threat.

"So we take one each?" May asked as quietly as she could, trying not to provoke the angry Poochyena any further.

"Probably the best idea," Brendan replied rather uneasily; He knew how to direct a Pokemon in battle, his father was a Gym Leader, after all, but nerves had robbed him of that knowledge, and he wasn't even sure what his Pokemon could do.

Any further discussion or thought was stalled when both of the Poochyena charged forward, ready to attack those that had interrupted their revenge. One of them slammed into Mudkip, sending the two Pokemon tumbling to the ground with May shouting at her Pokemon, trying to encourage it. The Poochyena facing off with Brendan's Torchic had paused a few feet away, trying to size up its new opponent. Torchic scratched the ground and chirped a challenge at the Dark type, before glancing back at Brendan for an order.

Brendan's eyes had locked onto the little bird's sharp talons as it was scuffing up the dirt, and took that as inspiration for his order. "Torchic, try scratching it!"

Torchic let out another chirp and hurled itself at the Poochyena, leaping up and lashing out with one clawed foot. The points of Torchic's foot skittered along the flank of the Poochyena as it tried to dodge out of the way, leaving the canine yelping as it stumbled a few steps away from its attacker.

"Nice job, Torchic!" Brendan cried, drawing the eyes of his Pokemon. The Poochyena took advantage of Torchic's distraction and rushed at the Fire type, limping slightly from the scratches on its side. Poochyena crashed headlong into Torchic, sending the little bird flopping to the ground with a squawk and a small burst of flame from its mouth.

Brendan cringed at the hit his Pokemon had received, but he began calling it back to its feet, his mind already working on his next move. "C'mon Torchic, get back up! Try hitting him with an Ember!"

Torchic worked its way back to a standing position and relocated the Poochyena, which had been circling the Fire type after shaking off the impact from its Tackle. Torchic tracked it for a few more seconds, then reared back its head, a small blaze forming in its beak. Torchic spat the resulting fireball at Poochyena, and the fire splashed over the Dark type, sending it scurrying away with a yelp and several new glowing patches in its coat.

The Poochyena was rolling on the ground, trying to put out the embers resting on its fur, when a yelp from May's side of the field drew the attention of both Brendan and the two Pokemon fighting in front of him.

Mudkip was staring at its opponent, breathing heavily. The Poochyena the Water type had been fighting was sprawled out on the ground, not moving except for some pained looking breaths. May was slowly moving towards her Pokemon to check it for injuries, while also keeping an eye on the downed Poochyena, nervous about it possibly getting back up.

Brendan looked back at his own battlefield, worried the Poochyena he had been fighting might have tried to sneak attack Torchic again, but the hostile Pokemon had taken the opportunity to flee, still smoldering slightly from Torchic's Ember attack. Torchic was hopping in place and chirping at its retreating form; Brendan could only assume that was the little bird's version of trash talk.

As Brendan moved towards Torchic, planning to check it over for injuries, it calmed down from its incomprehensible rant towards the fleeing Poochyena and stood there sucking in some ragged breaths; The Poochyena must have landed a harder Tackle than Brendan had thought. He crouched down and gave the Fire type a rub on the head, noting how warm it was. "Nice job, Torchic. You're pretty strong, you know that?"

Torchic was suddenly scratching the grass at this compliment, unable to look at Brendan, though the boy could swear the feathers under his hand had raised a few degrees after he had spoken. Brendan chuckled at this. "You're embarrassed about this? I'm serious Torchic, you were a huge help. Are you doing alright?" Torchic gave a small nod at this, "Alright then, come on, we should go see the Professor."

Brendan started walking to the tree Birch had climbed up, and Torchic started to follow him, but it stumbled and fell to the ground after the first few steps. Brendan heard the thud rushed back to the Pokemons side, concern etched across his face. "Oh crud. Are you sure you're doing alright, Torchic?"

" _Torchiiiic._ " Torchic let out a pained chirp and tried to stand back up, but its legs gave out again and it crumpled back to the ground, one of its small wings reaching for a point in its torso. Brendan knelt down and picked it up, one of his hands brushing over the point Torchic had tried to indicate. When the bird let out another, louder, squawk in reaction to this, Brandon decided to stop probing and stood back up, restarting his walk back to the Professor at a much slower pace, trying not to jar the little bird in his arms.

May had reached her father first, and was trying to help him get out of the tree. Professor Birch had a pained look on his face, and he seemed to be keeping his wounded leg off the branch he was standing on as much as possible. As Brendan approached the tree, May hurried over to him, a worried look on her face. "Brendan, I don't think Dad can get down by himself, and I can't catch him. Do you have a phone? We need to call the lab and get a stretcher out here, maybe a taller Pokemon." Brendan nodded and pulled his phone out, tossing it to his friend. As May stepped away to call the lab, Brendan walked over to the tree, looking to introduce himself to the man he had just saved.

The Professor preempted Brendan's attempt to introduce himself, however. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Brendan. It's a good thing you and May were around, I don't think those Poochyena would have gone away any time soon. Might have even brought a Mightyena in to try and get me. I'm just sorry that your first day in town involved having to save the supposed Pokemon expert of the region."

"It was no trouble, Professor. I couldn't just leave you out here. I was just wondering how you managed to get up that tree if your leg is hurt so badly."

Professor Birch winced at that observation. "Adrenaline is one hell of a pain suppressant, Brendan. I'm definitely feeling it now though. Probably not going to be walking for a while, one of those Poochyena got a pretty good bite in on my calf, might have cut into a tendon." Professor Birch looked down at Torchic, who was nestled in Brendan's arms, and concern flooded his eyes. "Is Torchic hurt, Brendan? He looks kind of ragged."

Brendan glanced down at the Pokemon in his arms, who looked back at him, face still a little contorted from the pain. "So Torchic's a boy? Neat. I think his chest might be hurt, he was trying to point at it and he didn't like when I touched it."

Professor Birch nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face as he went over the fight in his mind. "Yes, he might have a little bruising there, that Poochyena did hit him rather hard. I don't think anything will be broken, but we should put him through the scanner back at the lab anyway. A bit of Potion and some rest should fix him up either way."

The pair had been absorbed in their conversation, and so they hadn't noticed May finishing her call and then flagging down the two assistants that sprinted into the clearing a few minutes later. One of the Machoke from the moving company was trailing behind them, having been co opted by the assistants. The lab workers began unfolding a stretcher they had brought with them, while the Machoke moved to the tree, standing under Professor Birch, ready to catch him. Birch hopped out of the tree, letting out a small cry of pain as the Machoke caught him. It deposited him in the stretcher, and the assistants picked it up, carrying their boss back to the lab. Brendan and May fell in behind the stretcher, where they walked in silence for a bit before May spoke up.

"I'm really glad you were here Brendan. I don't think I would have been able to save my dad on my own." May said, relief playing over her face as she watched her father talk with the assistants, discussing what they were going to do when they made it back to the lab. "Dad's gotten in trouble out here before, but this was the most dangerous it's been for him in a long time."

Brendan was surprised by this. "Really? Two little Poochyena was the most dangerous he's ever dealt with? You'd think he would have seen more than that as a Professor."

May shrugged. "He told me about some issues he had with a rampaging Gyarados about fifteen years ago, but he's mostly been relying on outside data for his research for a while. Probably because he seems to attract trouble the instant he sets foot outside of Littleroot."

Brendan accepted that with his own shrug and the pair continued following the stretcher. Brendan began petting Torchic's head again, drawing some happy chirps out of the injured Pokemon. Thoughts about his first day were whirling through his head as he made the walk back to Littleroot, though one stuck out in particular;

 _"I wonder if dad ever had stuff like this happen when he was thirteen?"_

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the property of Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.**


	2. Healing Process

Brendan and May followed the stretcher bearing lab assistants back into Littleroot, the Machoke they had borrowed going back to the moving van. Their small party continued onto the lab, where Brendan could see both his mother and Mrs. Birch waiting outside, worry and relief alternating across their faces. As the stretcher-bearers reached the door, Maria rushed to Professor Birch's side, looking for his injury. Professor Birch tried to wave her off, but his wife was persistent, and was already directing the assistants to the medical station they kept inside the lab. Brendan and May were left outside as Hurricane Maria swept through the doors of the lab, slightly stunned by the speed at which the housewife had taken charge.

Angela approached the pair after having dodged out of the way of Maria and the stretcher, a smile coming over her face when she saw that her son wasn't injured. "So, Brendan. Not even two hours in our new home and you've already gotten into trouble." Arachne's head popped up over Angela's shoulder, the Spinarak chittering away at Brendan in an attempt to scold him.

Brendan held up one hand in an attempt to ward off the accusation, the other still cradling Torchic against his chest. "Hey, in my defense, May was the one who led me there. I just followed her and told Torchic here what to do."

May, who had crouched down to pet Mudkip while Brendan and his mother spoke, shot back up with a slightly panicked look on her face. "I'm so sorry Mrs. Maple, I didn't mean to put Brendan in any danger! I just, my dad, I, umm… annnnd now you're laughing?" The initial torrent of words petered out into confusion, as Brendan snickered and Angela seemed to be struggling to keep herself from bursting into full on laughs.

"It's alright, May," Angela managed to gasp out. "I was just pulling Brendan's leg. I'm proud of both of you for saving Professor Birch. And I am so glad neither of you were hurt. Come inside, we should get your Pokemon looked at, and we can talk to Professor Birch some more."

May looked slightly miffed as her panic fell away, but the trio entered the lab anyway, passing by a sign that read **Hershel Birch, Pokemon Professor**. Brendan and Angela looked around at the stacks of books and various scientific devices, while May did her best to explain what some of them did. As they moved through the lab, Angela brought up a question that had been bugging her since the pair had made it back to town. "How come neither of you put your Pokemon back in their balls? It would have made it easier to move them around, especially when they're injured."

May shrugged. "I asked Mudkip if she wanted to go back in for the walk back, and I'm 90% sure she was fine with walking, I haven't gotten interpreting these three down entirely yet."

Brendan pursed his lips after May finished speaking. "I... kinda forgot I could put Torchic back in. Carrying him seemed like a good idea at the time, and he hasn't exactly complained about the free ride." A happy chirp came from Brendan's arms at the last part, which was quickly followed by a pained one; Torchic must have put a little too much effort into expressing his gratitude.

Concern played over the faces of both Brendan and the two women. They increased their pace towards the back of the lab, where Brendan could see few beds and a PokeCenter style medical scanner. Professor Birch was in one of the beds, his injured leg swathed in bandages, while Maria, now dressed in a nurse's uniform, stared at a clipboard, her brows furrowed as she took in whatever it read. She glanced up as May and Brendan drew closer, taking stock of the injuries on their Pokemon.

"Brendan, May, I need you to put your Pokemon on the scanner. It will scan them and show if there is any damage below the skin, and then we can move onto treating them." Maria seemed a lot more severe than Brendan remembered his first meeting with her being, and he hurried to comply. He returned Torchic to his ball, and then put it on a tray connected to the scanner. May did the same beside him, and then the two stepped back while Maria began working the scanner's controls. As they watched her work, May turned to Brendan and Angela.

"Mom used to work in a Pokemon Center, so she really gets into it whenever anyone gets injured around here."

Brendan let out an "ahh" of understanding. "That explains why she seems so much more serious right now. Having a nurse is probably helpful around a Pokemon Lab, isn't it?"

May nodded. "Yeah, especially with all the times Dad gets attacked by Pokemon. I swear he can't leave the town without annoying something into attacking."

Professor Birch spoke up defensively from his bed. "Hey, I'll have you know I _can_ leave town, there just seem to be issues with what I can leave for. I can go travelling no problem, but if I go out there with the intention of studying Pokemon, something will go wrong."

"Come on, Dad, there's no way you going out to study out Pokemon is what gets you attacked by them."

"I have charts and graphs, May. Do you want me to spend the next hour going over each data point? I have the patience, I'm not exactly going anywhere in a hurry."

May held her hands up and backed off, a look of mock horror on her face. Brendan and Angela chuckled a little at the argument, until the scanner dinged and Maria popped the two Pokeballs back out. According to the readout, Torchic had some bruising in his chest, but was otherwise fine, and Mudkip had suffered several nasty looking scratches from her wrestling match with the Poochyena. Maria handed the Pokeballs back to Brendan and May, before reaching into a cabinet next to the scanner. Pulling out two purple bottles, she passed those over as well.

"I need you two to let out your Pokemon, and then spray them with the Potion. Focus on the main injury, but make sure you use all of the spray. Then we just let them rest for a while and they should be fine."

Giving a nod of understanding, Brendan let Torchic back out of his ball, May doing the same off to his side. Bending down to catch the little bird in case he fell, Brendan gave a little wave. "Hey Torchic. You doing alright?"

" _Torrrrrch…"_ Torchic wasn't exactly wincing, his facial structure didn't allow for that, but Brendan could see he was in pain.

"Right, you probably aren't doing to hot, are you?" May groaned at Brendan's wordplay, while the boy gave the Potion bottle a shake. "Just hold still, buddy. This should take the pain away." Aiming at Torchic's chest, Brendan pulled the bottle's trigger and started spraying the purple liquid. Almost as soon as it hit, Brendan could see Torchic's eyes soften, and the Fire type stood up a little straighter as the pain lessened.

Standing back up, Brendan took another look at the bottle. " Hey Mrs. Birch, how come you aren't using this stuff on the Professor? It looks like it would have him back on his feet in no time." He pointed at Torchic, who was already hopping in place, testing out his recovered range of motion.

Maria smiled at the boy's inquisitiveness. "There's two problems with that, Brendan. The first is that Potions are actually a little too strong for humans to use safely, and the second is that even if we could just blast him with Potion, one of Hershel's tendons was cut, and we need to let that heal naturally, or it might reconnect wrong."

Brendan winced at the second part, before turning back to Torchic, who was now getting three or four feet out of his jumps. "You look like you're doing better now, Torchic. How do you feel?"

 _"Torchic-chic!"_ The Fire type let out a happy chirp before launching himself about six feet into the air, to Brendan's shock. Torchic hung there for a second, and then came down on Brendan's shoulder. Brendan laughed a little at Torchic's actions, which turned into a cry of pain when Torchic's feet dug into the only available surface for balance; Brendan's thin shirt, and by extension, his skin.

" _ClawsclawsclawsCLAWS!_ Torchic, get off, please!"

Torchic jumped off, half in compliance and half from shock due to the sudden yelling. Clacking to the floor, he immediately turned around a nuzzled up against Brendan's leg, a mournful chirp coming from his mouth.

Brendan winced and grasped his shoulder, feeling a little blood pooling against his fingers, as he knelt down to rub Torchic's head. "It's alright, Torchic. Just a learning experience for next time, right? Ow."

He stood back up, only to jump a little when Maria appeared in front of him, holding a roll of bandages. She pointed at his shoulder. "Get that shirt off, now."

Her "serious nurse" voice had come back, and Brendan felt compelled to do what she said. After the shirt came off, Maria swiped at the punctures with some sort of damp pad, sending more pain signals down Brendan's arm, before swiftly winding the bandages around his shoulder. "And we're done. Try to keep those clean for about a day and you should be fine, dear."

Slightly baffled by the speed she had worked at, Brendan pulled his shirt back on, while trying to shake off the pain in his arm. As the fabric slid down over his eyes again, he could see May staring pointedly at the wall, her face a bright red, while his mother was once again trying to hold in her laughter. Professor Birch had no such compulsions and was chuckling away, before calling the two teens to his bedside.

"Alright you two, it's getting late. How would you like to take those Pokemon home with you tonight? I'm going to have enough trouble trying to take care of Treecko, all three of them being here would not end well."

Brendan's eyes widened. "Really? You want me to take care of Torchic? I understand why you'd ask May, she's been working with them, but I only met Torchic a few hours ago."

Professor Birch shrugged. "All the more reason for you to spend some more time with him, right? If you're going to be in town you should try to be friendly with a least one of the Pokemon here. Besides, it definitely looks like he likes you, he's never been happy enough to jump on me like that."

"If you say so…" Brendan replied, a little nervous about his ability to take care of a Pokemon. He'd helped take care of Arachne before, but his mom had always taken care of the majority of that work, and his dad's Pokemon had usually stayed at the Gym. This would be the first Pokemon he would care for who would be under his supervision entirely. "Hey Mom? Would we have enough Pokemon food for Torchic to have some?"

"We have plenty, Brendan. There's no need to worry, you can take Torchic home if you think you're able to take care of him."

Nodding at his mother's words, Brendan crouched down to talk to Torchic, who had stopped nuzzling his leg and had been looking back and forth between the talking humans. "Do you want to come home with me tonight, Torchic?"

" _Torchic!"_

"I'd say that's a yes, Brendan." Professor Birch said. "Can you come back here tomorrow morning? I have something I want to discuss with you. Same goes for you too, May. Good night, everybody."

Everyone said their goodbyes and filed out of the lab, leaving Maria to continue the treatment of Professor Birch's leg. Brendan, May, and Angela began walking back to their houses, their Pokemon trailing behind them and having their own conversation, which seemed to mostly involve Arachne interrogating Torchic. Mudkip occasionally spoke up in her friend's defense, but Arachne had picked up a threatening, motherly sort of aura from Angela that kept the two starters on the defensive. The two trios eventually reached their homes, and May said goodbye and went into her house.

"Do you want some dinner now, Brendan? I imagine sprinting up and down the Route was pretty tiring." Angela asked as they entered their own home.

"That'd be great Mom. Could you show me where they put the Pokemon food? I need to get some for Torchic."

She pointed it out, and the two prepared dinner for themselves and their Pokemon. Afterwards, Brendan said goodnight to his Mom and Arachne and led Torchic up to his room. The little Fire type forged ahead of him and begin poking around the room, waking up Brendan's PC and scattering a few packing peanuts from one of the boxes waiting to be unpacked. Brendan entered and scooped Torchic up before he could mess up the room any more, powering his PC back down soon after.

"So, Torchic. Do you know where you want to sleep? I could pile up some cushions for you, maybe Mom has a bed Arachne used to use, or…" Torchic struggled out of Brendan's arms and hopped over to the boy's bed, chirping insistently. "Or you want to sleep in my bed. Whatever, I can work with that."

Brendan changed into his pyjamas and hopped under the covers, Torchic snuggling up next to him. Brendan could feel the warmth radiating off of the Fire type, and was quickly lulled into a slumber.

This lasted all of thirty minutes before the blankets were tossed to the floor by a panting Branden. Turns out keeping a living furnace underneath a material known for its heat retention makes it very warm, very fast. Brendan compromised by transferring Torchic to his stomach, after some mild resistance from the sleepy bird, and drifted back to sleep.

Waking up again, this time at a decent hour, Brendan was somewhat surprised by the weight on his stomach, until he glanced down and saw the downy orange bird resting there. The events of the previous day came back to him, and he gave a small grin and scratched Torchic on the head, drawing the Pokemon out of his own slumber.

"Hey, Torchic. How'd you sleep?"

Torchic let out a grumbling series of chirps that made it clear he'd appreciate that question a lot more in another few hours, but he hopped off the bed anyway, allowing Brendan to get changed. The pair then went down to the kitchen, where Angela had breakfast ready for them. Arachne and Torchic chattered away in the background, the Spinarak seeming a lot more friendly now that she was sure the Fire type wasn't going to incinerate her master's spawn.

"So what do you think Professor Birch wants to talk to you about, Brendan?" Angela asked, a knowing smile on her face that Brendan failed to interpret.

"Dunno. Maybe he needs more help in his lab? It seemed like a pretty big place for only three researchers, and he's going to be down for a while with that leg."

"Well, if he does ask you to work for him, you don't need to come back and check with me. Have a good day, sweetie. Don't keep the Professor waiting." Brendan nodded and got up from the table, Angela speaking up from behind as he left. "And take your bag with you, I put some things in there you might need."

"Thanks Mom! I'll see you later. C'mon Torchic, let's go see what the Professor wants." Brendan jogged out the door, Torchic hot on his heels, and snagged his backpack from a table beside the door. Angela chuckled to herself about the surprise her son was going to get.

"Who would have thought he'd take after his father so quickly? Come here, Arachne, I need to sew up something that might help him." The Spinarak chittered happily, already spitting out silk for her master to use.

Brendan was walking down the lane to Professor Birch's lab, Torchic at his side, when he heard some quick steps behind him. Looking back, he saw May running up, Mudkip trotting at her side. May waved as she slowed to a walk beside Brendan. "Morning, Brendan!"

"Hey, May. Do you know what your dad wants with us today?"

"Not really, sorry. Probably going to be lab work of some sort, he'll definitely need the help now."

Brendan shrugged and the two made the rest of the walk in silence, the Pokemon trailing behind and holding their own conversation again, this time likely about their first nights outside the lab.

The small party entered the lab, where they could see Professor Birch hobbling around on a pair of crutches. May let out an annoyed groan. "Dad, you weren't even hurt 24 hours ago and you're already moving around again? Mom said you shouldn't be putting any weight on that leg!"

"That's the point of the crutches, May. And I'm pretty sure the common greeting is 'Good Morning', not complaints about my health. Like so; Good morning Brendan, May. How are you doing?"

"Pretty well, Professor. I've brought Torchic back for you. How's the leg?" Brendan replied, as May just narrowed her eyes and gave her father a short growl.

"Oh, it still hurts like hell. But thanks to the miracle of painkillers, I can do some work and not want to collapse in agony. Which leads into why I wanted you two here. I've got two questions for you guys, and I'm going to start with the second. How would you like a job?"

Brendan and May glanced at each other, before Brendan spoke up. "Sure, Professor. Uh, what exactly is it?"

"I have a business associate bringing some parts I need in from Slateport City, and he's going to be delivering them across the river up on Route 103. I need you guys to go get them for me, he said he would be dropping the package off by the pond at the north end of the path if you can't meet him in time."

May spoke this time. "That's great, Dad, but how are we supposed to get _to_ Route 103? There's tons of wild Pokemon between here and there and we don't have any Pokemon of our own."

Professor Birch chuckled at that. "Oh my God, you two haven't figured it out yet. Well, that provides me a perfect segue into question number one, then."

"How would you two like your own Pokemon?"

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.**


	3. First Steps

Brendan and May stared at Professor Birch, neither of the teens really comprehending what he had said. May eventually spoke up, her voice still a little disbelieving. "You're… actually offering to give us Mudkip and Torchic? Aren't you still studying them, Dad?"

"True, but having them actually get out and experience the world would provide a lot more information about how they behave than just staring at them in a lab all day. I'd also prefer my daughter and my best friend's son don't get torn apart while they go to get a package for me, so let's just say I'm selfish and want you two to stay safe." Birch shrugged as he said the last part, accidently dropping one of his crutches.

Brendan stepped forward to grab the fallen crutch, his brain latching onto one part of Professor Birch's answer. "Wait, best friend? You knew my Mom before we came here?"

Professor Birch laughed. "Angela? No, not really. She's a lovely lady, but I only really met her when she married your dad. Your dad, on the other hand, well I've known him since we were in school. He's actually the one who put me up to giving you a Pokemon in the first place, and your mom went along with it."

"You mean all of yesterday was just a setup to give me a Pokemon? Huh, going to have to thank Dad for that."

Professor Birch winced. "No, the 'getting attacked by Poochyena' bit was definitely unplanned, but it did show me that you have a solid grasp on how to lead and care for a Pokemon. So in the end, yesterday still wound up with the result I wanted. Except now I'm crippled for a few months."

Brendan grimaced at that, while May interjected, still looking somewhat suspicious. "So you're serious about giving us a Pokemon, Dad?"

Birch sighed, getting slightly tired of the disbelief from the two teens. "Yes. I am completely serious about this. I've been watching you work with them for years now, May; You are more than capable of taking care of a Pokemon. And Brendan, while I only saw a little bit of your skills yesterday, you clearly cared for Torchic, and your parents both say you could deal with any Pokemon you've had contact with before you came here. You two are some of the most competent prospective Trainers I have had through here in years, and I have complete faith in you being able to take care of any Pokemon you come across. So, I will ask once again; Do you want a Pokemon of your own?

Brendan replied first. "Of course, Proff-" but was quickly cut off when May dashed by with squeal, slamming into Professor Birch and wrapping her arms around him.

"Thank you, Dad!"

Professor Birch, who had miraculously kept hold of his crutches, gave May a one armed hug back, before glancing at Brendan. " And I assume it's the same for you, Brendan?"

"Uh, yeah, of course. Maybe a bit less huggy, though." With that, May withdrew from her hug with a slight blush and an embarrassed grin, while Professor Birch hobbled over to a table to grab two small cards off it. Moving back to the two, he passed one to each of them.

"Stop by the Pokemon Center in Oldale Town on your way up and hand these off to the Nurse Joy there. She will register you as Trainers and make sure Mudkip and Torchic are officially transferred to you."

Looking over the blank card, Brendan spoke up one more time "So we go up to Route 103, get the package, and then come back?"

"That's right. If you need something to keep your attention during the walk, maybe try thinking up a nickname for your Pokemon. I haven't seen many Torchics or Mudkips around, but giving them a name of their own makes it easier to get their attention when you're around others."

"Alright then. Let's go, guys. See you later, Professor!" Brendan and May left the lab, their soon-to-be Pokemon right beside them. Professor Birch gave them a wave before working his way over to one of his machines and becoming engrossed in its contents.

Brendan and May walked out the north end of Littleroot town, stepping foot on Route 101 once again. Torchic and Mudkip chased each other between the legs of the two teens, while May spoke. " So, Brendan, you have any ideas about what you might want to name Torchic? I'm kind of blanking on anything for Mudkip."

"I've got one that's sticking in my head, but I'm not really sure…"

May patted him on the shoulder. "Well, tell me what it is. Maybe it'll seem better if you sound out your reasoning."

"Well, I was thinking of calling him Spitfire. It's this old fighter plane I saw once, and I was thinking that birds and planes go together. And then he's a Fire type, so that's represented in the name as well. I dunno, seems kinda weird now that I've spelled it out."

May shrugged. "Well, if you like it, and Torchic likes it, I don't think you really need to care about what anyone else says. Besides, it'll probably grow on you."

"You've got a point. Hey, Torchic!" The Fire type stopped his game of tag to look at Brendan. "What do you think about the name Spitfire?" Torchic thought for a moment, before nodding and chirping several times in what seemed like an affirmative. He then charged off after Mudkip again, who had tagged him while he had been thinking.

May looked at Brendan with an amused expression. "Congratulations, Brendan. You've just named your first Pokemon."

Brendan looked mildly surprised. "Huh. That was easier than expected." The two walked on in silence for a time, cutting east around a stand of trees when May pointed out that continuing north would run them into some rather tall cliffs in the road. May spoke up again just before the two reached an unkempt part of the Route; the grass was tall and shaggy, capable of hiding all sorts of surprises.

"Hey Brendan, what do you have in your bag? Anything you think might be useful?"

Brendan jolted a little as he remembered he was actually carrying his backpack. "Oh yeah! Mom said she had packed some stuff for me, but I never took a look." Sliding the bag off, he opened it up and peered inside. He saw a collection of Pokeballs and a few Potions, bundled in a wrapping of Arachne's silk to keep the bottles from breaking. Alongside that, there was several packets of travel rations and Pokemon food. Standing up and sliding the bag back on, he caught May's attention.

"I've got some Pokeballs and Potions, a bit of food, nothing major. Mom did seem rather sure that Professor Birch was going to ask me to do something this morning, though."

May nodded. "Yeah, I have the same from my Mom. I'm starting to think all of our parents were in on this. Let's keep moving."

Readjusting their bags, the two would-be Trainers stood at the edge of the tall grass, calling their Pokemon to their sides. Brendan glanced at May and spoke. "So. Our first steps into the dangerous world of Pokemon as Trainers. You ready, May?"

"I've been through worse working with Dad before. You actually sounded just like him then. Let's go!" And with that, May rushed into the grass, Brendan a second behind.

Nothing happened.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Brendan said, making his way to May's side. "I could have sworn something would have tried jumping us as soon as we stepped in."

May didn't respond. She seemed to have gone totally still and silent, though Brendan was sure there was a high pitched noise going through the air that he hadn't heard before. He moved up and tapped her on the shoulder, but that seemed to have no effect. Brendan could hear Mudkip and Spitfire pushing through the grass behind them, so he stepped in front of his friend and waved a hand in front of her face.

"Earth to May. Earth to May! You alright May?"

When his hand stopped, Brendan got a closer look at May's face. Her teeth were clenched and her face seemed to be frozen in a look of horror; Brendan realized that the high pitched noise he had been hearing seemed to be a muffled shriek coming from May's mouth. Her eyes seemed to be shifting looking at him and looking at the ground, and Brendan's head followed them on their next downwards motion.

A large, red caterpillar had attached itself to May's leg and was slowly working its way upwards. Brendan let out an "ahh" of recognition and reached out to pull the Bug off of May. When his hand got close, the caterpillar suddenly reared back and hissed at him. The Bug releasing some of its suckers off of May's leg seemed to spur her into action, and she kicked out, shaking the Bug off of her leg. It flew through the air for a few feet before crashing down in front of Spitfire and Mudkip, who jumped back with cries of shock.

May was rubbing at her leg with her hands, alternating between shouts of disgust and rage, while Brendan prepared to direct his Pokemon in battle. Before he could order Spitfire to do anything, however, May got in one last venomous shout.

"Beat that Wurmple to a pulp, Brendan!"

"Ooooooookay then. At least I know what it's called now. Spitfire, use Scratch!" Spitfire did as he was commanded, charging at the Wurmple before hopping over it, lashing out with a claw as he flew over Wurmple's head. The Bug let out a pained hiss, before wheeling around and spitting a line of white goo at Spitfire. Unable to change direction in the air, the Torchic was hit with the full force of the String Shot, sticky strands of silk tangling up his legs as he landed and sending him to the ground.

"Crap. Spitfire, try using Ember on the silk!" A small ball of fire built up in Spitfire's beak in response, and he spat it out, burning the silk strands away from his legs. He got back on his feet and turned to face the Wurmple, which had been slowly crawling towards him while he dealt with the String Shot.

"Use Ember again! Hit the Wurmple this time!" Another ball of fire flew from Spitfire's mouth, which slammed into the slow moving Bug. Another, louder hiss came from it, but it continued forging ahead, trying to get into range to hit Spitfire. Spitfire took the initiative and simply spat out a third Ember. One last wave of fire proved to be too much for the Wurmple to handle, and it crumpled over unconscious

Brendan stepped around the smoking Wurmple and patted Spitfire on the head. "Nice job, buddy. We protected May from the big, scary Bug."

May glared at Brendan, before brushing her legs one last time with a shudder. "Hey! I am fine with Bugs. What I am not fine with is creatures latching onto my leg while I can't see them. Have you ever had something start crawling up you when you can't see? It's freaky!"

"I've lived with the most touchy-feely Spinarak ever for ten years, May. I got used to it when I was about five years old."

May closed her eyes and let out a huff. "Of course you have. Alright, let's keep moving. I'd rather not have another Wurmple start trying to climb me, or a Poochyena trying to gnaw my legs off." She stepped behind Brendan and began pushing him forward, his halfhearted complaints, _"C'mon May, I can walk by myself,"_ floating through the air as they cleared the grass patch. Emerging back onto a relatively maintained portion of the Route, May stopped pushing her friend and began walking beside him again. Brendan nudged her when she got next to him.

"So, you having fun yet, May?"

"Brendan, I _will_ have Mudkip spray you."

"Silence it is, then!"

The two walked up the path in silence, Spitfire and Mudkip resuming their game of Tag between the legs of their Trainers. After thirty minutes of walking, the northern path they had been walking up cut west again, leading into another patch of grass. May stepped behind Brendan as they approached the tall vegetation. " _You_ get to go first this time, Mr. ' Not Scared of Random Things Crawling up my Leg.'"

Brendan rolled his eyes and stepped into the grass, calling Spitfire to his side as he did. When, once again, nothing happened, he spun on his heels and looked back at May, his arms held wide. As he made the turn, however, he noticed something strange out of the corner of his eye; There seemed to be steam rising up out of the grass under the northern trees. He turned back to look at it and called out to May. "May, do you see steam or something coming up from under those trees?"

May shaded her eyes and looked into the shadowed grass. "Yeah, I see it. What do you think it is?"

"Dunno. Let's go see." Brendan pushed his way through the grass, May doing the same from her position outside the patch. As the two converged near the trees, Brendan pulled out his phone, turning on the flashlight and aiming it at the point the steam was floating up from.

The light revealed the huddled form of a Poochyena. The small canine was curled up in a ball, and appeared to be shivering rather badly. When it raised its head to look at the intruders, Brendan noticed that the usual white fangs of the species were instead an icy looking blue, clouds of steam flowing out of the Poochyena's mouth with every breath. The Poochyena let out a half hearted growl, before flopping its head back to the ground and letting the growl turn into a mournful whine.

"Is that Ice Fang? I thought Poochyena couldn't learn that normally." Brendan whispered, trying not to provoke the canine into attacking. He wasn't sure if he needed to worry, however; the Poochyena didn't look like it wanted to do much of anything, and actually looked somewhat thin when Brendan focused on its body. Its coat was also dirty and unkempt; clearly no one had cleaned it in a while.

"It might be." May whispered back. "My Dad told me about some Breeders and Trainers that will just keep making their Pokemon have Eggs until they get a baby that is 'strong enough' for them. All the other Pokemon just get tossed out; I think he said the term that was used by those monsters was 'breedjects'." May practically spat out the last word, anger clear on her face.

Brendan slid his bag off his back and reached in, pulling out one of the packets of Pokemon food Angela had put inside. "He looks pretty hungry. Why hasn't he gone after some food by now?"

"His old Trainer probably told him to wait here and then never came back. Or maybe this is just some random, wild, depressed looking, half starved Poochyena that is using a move they have never been documented using without assisted breeding, but I think I'll stick with the simpler explanation." May was almost shaking with rage now, Mudkip rubbing against her legs and "speaking" in soft tones, attempting to calm her down.

Brendan, who had taken some pieces of food out of the packet, had crouched down and was creeping closer to the Poochyena, Spitfire following close behind him, ready to defend his Trainer. Poochyena sniffed and looked up, its dull looking eyes slightly hidden behind the cloud of steam still rising from its mouth. Brendan spoke in a soft voice. "Hey, Poochyena. I got some food for you. You're looking pretty hungry, you really need to eat."

Poochyena gave a short bark and put its head on the ground once again, obviously not wanting to take food from someone who wasn't its Trainer. Brendan persisted, moving ever closer, speaking to Spitfire out of the corner of his mouth. "Spitfire, can you try to convince him, too? He might listen to another Pokemon."

"' _Chic-chic."_ came the quiet response from Spitfire, who added his own voice to Brendan's pleas for the small canine to eat. May watched as this continued, until Poochyena let out a harsher bark when Brendan got within a few feet. Spitfire had apparently had enough of the soft approach at this point, and broke out into a long winded rant of chirps and squawks. Neither May nor Brendan understood what was being said, but Mudkip looked taken aback by what her friend was saying, and Poochyena looked completely stunned. Spitfire stood there breathing for a moment, before recognition of what he had done caught up with him, and he drew back behind Brendan, embarrassed about his loss of composure.

Poochyena sniffed a few more times, and Brendan was sure he could see a few tears welling up in his eyes. Poochyena slowly uncurled and stood up, looking very stiff; Brendan wondered just how long he had been lying there. After a brief shake that seemed more like a shudder, the Dark type hobbled over to Brendan and smelled the food in his hand. Apparently satisfied that Brendan wasn't trying to fool, poison, or otherwise hurt him, Poochyena dug into the food. Brendan winced as the canine's extremely cold breath washed over his hand, but he held out until Poochyena had eaten every piece of food from his hand.

Poochyena seemed to have slightly more energy now, and let out a yip, hungry for more food. Brendan tore the bag wide open and set it in front of the Dark type, who dove for the bag with his mouth wide open. Brendan then reached behind him and picked up Spitfire, much to the Torchic's surprise, and let out a sigh as his hand warmed back up. May moved up next to Brendan and looked down at the eating Poochyena, her trained eye wandering over his body. "He was definitely hungry, though we've taken care of that. He's going to need a bath to clean up, but otherwise he looks in decent shape. At least whoever had him before got that right, though he might have to get used to moving around again."

Brendan nodded and stood back up, letting Spitfire jump to the ground and shaking out his re-warmed hand. "Do you want to come with us for now, Poochyena? We can get you to the Pokemon Center and get you cleaned up, and then you could decide what you want to do."

Finishing his food, Poochyena let out the happiest sounding bark Brendan had heard from him yet. He trotted over to Brendan's side, stiff legs putting a bit of a limp in his stride. The little canine seemed to be shivering slightly less, the food having put a little warmth in him. May let out a relieved sigh at the Pokemon being able to move, while Brendan leaned down and rubbed his head, getting a happy whine out of the Pokemon. "I'll take that as a yes. Let's get moving then, we could probably get to Route 103 before it gets too late if we hurry." The small party set off at a quick walk, moving out of the grass patch and reaching an opening in the woods that led to Oldale Town.

May took the front of the group, spinning on her heel to indicate the town as she crossed backwards over the boundary. "Welcome to Oldale Town, Brendan. I'd say it's slightly less backwoodsy than Littleroot, but we're the ones with a lab, so I'm not really sure how that works out."

Brendan was about to reply, when a cruel sounding voice burst out from outside the Pokemon Center.

"Where did you find _that_ wretched little beast?"

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.**


	4. Poochyena's Justice

May whipped back around, trying to locate whoever had yelled out, while Brendan's eyes

zeroed in on a man wearing a red apron and bandana, who was leaning against the Pokemon Center's wall. Brendan quickly moved his eyes away from the man, hoping that he had been yelling at someone else. That hope was quickly dashed when the man opened his mouth a second time.

"You, with the stupid white hair! I'm talking to you."

Brendan's eye twitched a little at the hair comment. "It's a hat, man! C'mon!"

May looked back at him in surprise, briefly distracted from the Breeder. "Really? It's a hat?"

Brendan let out a groan of annoyance and began pushing May towards the Pokemon Center door, whispering at the same time. "Yes, it's a hat, and that was an attempt at deflection. Now get inside before this guy tries anything else."

Unfortunately for Brendan's goal of avoiding conflict, the Breeder pushed himself off the wall and stepped in front of the two teens, blocking their path to the door. May glared at the man, while Brendan tried to avoid looking in his eyes as he spoke. "Sir, could you move out of the way, please? My friend and I need to go register with the Nurse and we have some Pokemon that need a check up."

"You mean that worthless little Poochyena you have hiding behind your legs? I was working with it for weeks and the damn thing can't even turn off its Ice Fang! Useless as breeding material and a battler!"

May's eyes seemed to light on fire at this point, while Brendan muttered under his breath. "Well, that made tracking the old Trainer down so much easier." Stepping in front of May, Brendan looked the Breeder directly in the eyes. "Can I assume that you have released this Poochyena by the way you're talking, sir, along with the fact that you left abandoned it on Route 101 for who knows how long?"

"Shattered its Pokeball as soon as I got back to town! What're you going to do about it, kid?

Brendan let out a aggravated sounding sigh, though he did glance at May before he spoke. " _I'm_ not going to do anything. C'mon Spitfire, Poochyena, let's get inside." Edging his way past the Breeder with his Pokemon in tow, Brendan walked through the doors of the Pokemon Center, the Breeder turning to watch them go with a cruel smirk on his face.

The smirk vanished when the doors whooshed shut and the Breeder realized that there were still two members of the little group left unaccounted for. Turning back, he saw that the girl was still standing there, her glare as potent as ever and and almost visible aura of anger rising off of her. He gulped as May cocked her leg back; several years of running away from the Pokemon that chased her father on fieldwork had left her with some powerful legs.

Brendan heard the impact from inside the Pokemon Center, followed by the thud of a body hitting the ground. The door opened a few moments later, a slightly less enraged May making her way through, Mudkip beside her. Brendan looked at her, an eyebrow raising. "So, did you kick him in the…" He gestured to make his point.

May shook her head. "Nah, I got him in the head. That's probably why he didn't make much noise." Brendan's eyebrow actually rose higher at this; the breeder had stood a good foot taller than May.

"Is he going to be okay? It sounds like you hit him pretty hard."

May shrugged. "He was still breathing, nothing looked out of place, and if I'm wrong, he's right outside a hospital. I'm sure somebody will help him, which is probably more than he deserves."

"If you say so. Let's go give these cards to the Nurse." The pair walked to the back of the Pokemon Center, where a woman with pink hair and a nurse's uniform was pointedly _not_ looking out the door of the Center. When the two teens approached the desk, she looked their way with a smile.

"Welcome to the Oldale Pokemon Center. My name is Nurse Joy, how may I help you?"

Brendan pulled out the blank card Professor Birch had given him. "I need to register as a Trainer, Professor Birch told me you could help with that. Is there anything I need to do?"

"Oh yes. If you could give me the card and go stand over there, we can take your picture and then fill out the details."

Brendan handed over the card and stood where she had directed him. "So do I need to take the hat off, or is it fine staying on?"

Nurse Joy blinked, her finger over the button that would have taken the picture. "That's a hat?"

May spoke up from the background. "That's what I said!"

Brendan just sighed.

Nurse Joy shrugged. "If that's what you'll normally be wearing, you might as well leave it on. Smile!" There was a flash that left Brendan seeing stars, and then the Nurse called him back over to the desk. There was a terminal that she had him fill out a few details on, and finally a machine that spat out his card, now filled out. She handed it back to him, his face smiling up from it, and then spoke again.

"Professor Birch called earlier and said he was transferring the ownership of a Torchic to you. Is that the one chasing the Poochyena around the lobby?" Brendan looked behind him to see his two Pokemon and Mudkip engaging in another game of Tag, May giggling as she watched them; her previous bad mood seemed to be totally gone now.

"Yeah, that's the one. Do you have a bath or shower somewhere? I need to clean up that Poochyena."

"It's down the hall, first door on the right. Annnnnnd the Torchic has been transferred to you. Congratulations, Mr. Maple! You are now an official Pokemon Trainer. I hope we will see you again. Young lady, you're next."

Brendan said his thanks to Nurse Joy and called his Pokemon to him, walking towards the bathroom the Nurse had indicated. As he moved away from the desk, he heard Nurse Joy talking to May. " Young lady, while I personally have no issues with how you dealt with that man outside, all Pokemon Center employees are usually expected to report any violence that occurs on their grounds. You were outside when it happened, so you should be fine, but keep that in mind for the future." May laughed nervously as Brendan opened the bathroom door, her face redder than Brendan ever remembered it going before.

Stepping inside the bathroom, Brendan saw several showers and bathtubs, along with smaller shower stalls designed for Pokemon sitting on tables. Opening one of the small stalls, he called Poochyena. "Come up here, Poochyena. Let's get you cleaned up, that should help you feel better." The Dark type let out a bark and hopped up to the stall, while Spitfire hung out near the bathroom entrance, the Fire type having a completely unexpected problem with the amount of water in the room. Brendan cranked the water on and turned the shower head towards Poochyena, who was presenting his brown coat to the boy.

A brown coat that immediately gave way to grey and black as the water sloughed away the dirt that had collected from the time Poochyena had spent lying on the ground, waiting for the Breeder to return. The hot water sizzled off of Poochyena's perpetual Ice Fang, creating a large cloud of steam around the Pokemon's head. Brendan eventually turned the water off, leaving Poochyena's shaggy fur damp and hanging low. The Dark type shook himself off, showering Brendan with water, before hopping down from the stall.

Brendan exited the bathroom after spending a few moments under a dryer, a much happier Poochyena and an amused Spitfire walking beside him. May met him, her smiling face matched by the one on her Trainer card. "So I guess we're both official now, aren't we, Brendan?"

Brendan fished his own card out of his pocket and showed it to her. "Seems about right! So how about we go grab that package for Professor Birch and go back home?" Brendan led their little group to the door of the Center, only to pull up short when he heard a pained groan from outside. "Oh crap. That guy's up already. Maybe we should try leav-"

Brendan was cut off by the whoosh of the door, which admitted the Breeder. The man was clutching his head and glaring around the Pokemon Center, looking for Brendan and May. Considering they were the only ones in the Center besides Nurse Joy, it wasn't a particularly hard task. Focusing on May, the man took a step forward, his hand going to his pocket, which Brendan could see several Pokeballs in. "You caught me off guard before, brat. But this time, I'm keeping an eye on you. Now bring out that little blue fish you call a Pokemon!"

Brendan could see Nurse Joy diving for a phone out of the corner of his eye, while May angrily stepped forward beside him. Before she could order Mudkip to fight, however, Poochyena leapt forward, the fur on his tail bristling and making him appear slightly larger. He was growling at his former trainer, the waves of the steam pouring from his mouth pulsing in time with the growls.

The Breeder snorted as his former Pokemon faced him. "You think you're capable of fighting me, you useless little dog? That's the whole reason I got rid of you, you couldn't even fight because your teeth stuck together! Who the hell would pay for a Pokemon that can't fight?"

Brendan glared at the Breeder, disgust clear across his face. "...You know, I was going to give you some speech about how believing in your Pokemon and working with him would have helped, but I think you're enough of an ass that it would fly right over your head. Let's do this, Poochyena!"

The Dark type let out a bark as the Breeder tossed out a Pokeball, revealing a small brown and white raccoon. It was pacing side to side, sniffing the ground Brendan glanced back at May, who jolted a little when she realized her friend was looking for advice. "That's a Zigzagoon, Brendan. It's a Normal type, and seeing how this guy _actually held onto it_ , it's probably decently strong." The last part was accompanied by another hate filled glare towards the Breeder, who scoffed at the young girl's scorn.

Any further talk was interrupted by Poochyena as he threw his head back, unleashing a loud howl. When he brought his head back down, an angry red aura burst into view around him, and Brendan though the Dark type looked a little stronger after doing so. Brendan felt an aggressive smile growing on his face as Poochyena set his stance, ready for an order. "Let's start with a Tackle, Poochyena!"

Poochyena barked in response and dashed forward, quickly chewing up the distance between himself and the Zigzagoon. The raccoon tried to dodge out of the way, but Poochyena kept it in his sights and leapt forward, slamming his body into Zigzagoon. Zigzagoon went tumbling back, but quickly found its feet again. The Breeder yelled out an order of his own. "Tail Whip it, Zigzagoon!"

Zigzagoon ran across the floor in an odd zigzag pattern, making it difficult for Brendan to track it. Poochyena seemed to be having just as much trouble, and Zigzagoon was suddenly in his face, drawing a surprised bark from him. Zigzagoon suddenly spun, batting its bristly tail across Poochyena's face, and then retreated before he could strike back, zigzagging back across the floor to stand in front of its trainer. Poochyena let out an annoyed growl, his guard dropping slightly as he glared at Zigzagoon, who wiggled its tail in response. The Breeder gave another order as soon as Zigzagoon returned.

"Now hit it with a Tackle. Take it down!"

Zigzagoon took off in its zigzag run once again, causing Poochyena's head to swivel back and forth as he tried to track it. At one point it continued running right when he expected it to turn left, and before he could find it again, it slammed headlong into his side, knocking the Dark type back a few feet. Poochyena let out a pained growl and looked back at Brendan, barking a request for orders.

Brendan fretted for a moment, before the clouds of steam billowing from Poochyena's mouth clued him in. "Get him with your Ice Fang, Poochyena! Show him you know what you're doing!"

The Breeder snorted at Brendan's statement, still not believing his old Pokemon to be capable of much. His disdain turned to shock when Poochyena's jaws opened wide, the Dark type charging at Zigzagoon. The Normal type was still slightly stunned from the Tackle it had delivered, and had been standing still, trying to shake the dizziness from its head. Thanks to that, it was unable to dodge when Poochyena cut around it and latched his jaws onto its side.

Zigzagoon _shrieked_ as Poochyena's fangs sunk into its skin, and the panicking raccoon lashed out with its rear legs, scoring a few scratches on Poochyena's side. Poochyena growled as he was struck, but kept his jaws tight; Brendan could see the fur around where he was biting beginning to turn hard and ice-white. Zigzagoon continued flailing and Poochyena continued biting, occasionally shaking his head to drive Zigzagoon back to the floor, and Zigzagoon's movements eventually slowed down as the cold sapped its strength. Eventually, Zigzagoon stopped struggling entirely and simply lay there, shivering.

"That's enough, Poochyena, let go of it!" Brendan called out; the Breeder may have been cruel, but Brendan didn't want to be responsible for seriously injuring or killing one of his Pokemon. Poochyena shook his head one last time and then let go of the raccoon, trotting back to Brendan's side with a growl. Brendan got a good look at the Zigzagoon before the Breeder called it back into its ball, and its entire side had turned white from the side effects of the bite.

" _Just how cold is Poochyena's mouth?"_ Brendan thought, glancing down at the canine by his side, who was snarling at his old trainer. Any further thought was interrupted by a shout from the Breeder on the other side of the lobby.

"I'm not done yet kid! You think I'm giving up because you beat one of my weakest Pokemon with that mangy mutt? You have another thing coming!" He then reached into his pocket and pulled out another Pokeball, preparing to release his next Pokemon.

"Oh crap! May, tag in, I don't think Poochyena could handle another fight yet!" Brendan knelt down and pulled Poochyena back, the Dark type's aura breaking as he strained to get back in the fight. May stepped in front of her friend, Mudkip at her side. Pointing across the lobby, May shouted an order. "Mudkip, use Tackle!"

The Breeder tossed out his next Pokeball. "Go, Whis- Wait, what?"

Whatever Pokemon the Breeder had been trying to call out, it had barely reformed on the floor before Mudkip slammed into it. Brendan saw what looked like a purple ball with large, yellow tipped ears go flying back into its trainer, knocking the Breeder to the floor. The man cried out in pain, his Pokemon ricocheting off of him and winding up on one of the lobby couches, but he quickly picked himself back up, pulling a third Pokeball out of his pocket. He spoke again, now with a pained rasp.

"Didn't think I would need my trump card against two little punks. But I'll show you both! Just watch me!"

Brendan and May both tensed up, Brendan hurriedly emptying a Potion bottle onto Poochyena and sending both him and Spitfire forward. They lined up next to Mudkip and faced down the Breeder, who had been recalling his Whismur from the couch before releasing his third Pokemon. The man wound up to throw the ball, but the door of the suddenly opened behind him. Brendan and May saw a flash of movement, and then the Breeder was knocked to the floor when something slammed into his back.

A policewoman with teal hair was kneeling on the man's back, cuffing his hands. A Growlithe was standing next to them, growling at the man while the policewoman spoke. "Chad Leroy, you are under arrest for Pokemon abandonment and inciting violence on Pokemon Center have the right to remain silent…"

Brendan tuned out the rest of the policewoman's speech and sat down on the ground, letting out a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. May flopped down next to him, along with their Pokemon, and the group sat there until Nurse Joy made her way out from behind the counter to check over their Pokemon.

As Nurse Joy checked out their Pokemon, the policewoman left Chad under the watchful eye of her Growlithe, struggling and yelling on the floor and walked over to the two teens. "Hi, you two. My name is Officer Jenny. Are you two alright?" The two teens nodded, and Jenny let out a relieved sigh. "That's good. Are either of you looking to press any charges beyond what I already said?"

Brendan shook his head, while May spoke. "Just make sure the abandonment one sticks, I guess." May's eyes narrowed after she spoke and she began muttering under her breath, Brendan catching a few words about making Chad do something anatomically improbable, among other threats.

"Alright, I can work with that. Can I just ask you two a few questions to fill out my report?" They did so, Jenny jotting it all down on a pad of paper. "And one final question. Are you going to be taking responsibility for that Poochyena, Mr. Maple? I can make sure he goes through the proper systems if you don't want to."

Brendan looked down at Poochyena, who he'd been idly scratching as he talked to the officer. "Well, I'd like to bring him along, but I'm not entirely sure what he wants to do. You want to come with me and Spitfire, Poochyena?"

Poochyena's response was to rear up on his hind legs and lick Brendan's face. The boy grimaced as chills ran up his spine; Poochyena's cold breath was washing over his face, but at least Brendan was pretty sure what the Pokemon wanted to do.

Jenny laughed as Brendan tried to push the chilly canine off of himself. "I'd say that settles who Poochyena is going with. I recommend you get him in a Pokeball as soon as possible, that will keep anyone else from capturing him."

"Oh, yeah. Got to get them in a ball to say they're yours. Can't believe I almost forgot about that." Fishing through his backpack, Brendan pulled out a Pokeball and set it in front of Poochyena. "Here you go, buddy. You can do the honours."

Poochyena let out a happy bark and poked the button on the ball with his nose. He disappeared in a flash of light, the ball shaking three times and then holding still with a click. Brendan picked the ball of with a smile and activated it, letting Poochyena back out. "Welcome to the team, Poochyena." Spitfire chirped out his acceptance from beside Brendan's leg, and Poochyena barked again.

May tapped Brendan on the shoulder. "We really do need to get going, Brendan. We need to grab that package for Dad, and we should let Officer Jenny get back to work."

Brendan nodded and followed May out of the Pokemon Center, waving goodbye to Officer Jenny as she picked Chad up off the floor. As Brendan exited the building, he saw a large Pidgeot resting on the grass; that solved the mystery of how Officer Jenny had gotten to Oldale so fast. May and Brendan passed by the bird and continued walking to the northern end of town, pausing to accept some complimentary Potions from a bored looking Pokemart employee and make vague promises about visiting the store.

Compared to the excitement in the Pokemon Center, the walk up Route 103 was positively idyllic. May wound up punting another Wurmple into the woods when they walked through a grassy patch and it crawled up her leg, and an opportunistic Poochyena was scared off due to being outnumbered three to one, but the journey was otherwise uneventful. The pair eventually reached the pool at the end of the Route, and found the package partially wedged under a bush. Brendan put it in his backpack. "Any idea what your Dad needs these parts for?"

May shrugged. "Not really. He's been working on some project for a while now, but I haven't seen anything." The two teens just stood in silence for a while, watching a flock of Beautifly dance above the pool, singing away. The Beautifly eventually flew east, across the river. Brendan could have sworn he saw a flash of red and white among the flock, along with a high pitched cooing sound. He glanced back at May to confirm it wasn't her freaking out about another Bug Pokemon, and she took his look as a cue to start talking.

"You know, when we left Littleroot, I was going to ask you to battle me when we got up here, but I think I've hit my limit for now. You want to just get back to the lab?"

Brendan sighed tiredly. "That sounds like a great idea. It's getting kinda late, anyway."

May led the way south, showing Brendan how to safely slide and jump down the cliffs that had made the walk up so much more tedious. They made good time back through Oldale, and hopped down the cliffs on Route 101 as well, Brendan noting how much faster it made the journey. _"Why don't they just put some ladders on these?"_

The sun was just sinking below the treeline as the two newly minted trainers walked back into Littleroot Town and headed to Professor Birch's lab. Pushing the door open, May called out. "Dad, we're back! We have the package!"

Professor Birch came hobbling out from behind a bookshelf. "Oh good, I was wondering when you guys were going to turn up. You have a good trip?"

May coughed and Brendan scratched his arm nervously, before Brendan spoke. "Oh, you know, got our cards, fought off some wild Pokemon, simple stuff like that."

Professor Birch kept moving towards them, his crutches clicking off the floor like a clock. "Interesting. Well, perhaps you two can answer a question I have." He stopped in front of the two with a final thud, his crutches coming down much harder than normal.

"What was this I heard about the police being called to the Oldale Pokemon Center?"

Brendan and May went pale, both speaking at the same time. "Aw, crap."

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.**


	5. My Commute is HOW Far?

Professor Birch peered into Poochynea's mouth, wincing a little as a blast of cold air washed over his face. "Fascinating. So Poochyena's fangs are undergoing a constant state of sublimation, and yet the only effect on the rest of his body is a slight chill?"

Brendan stared at Professor Birch with his eyes wide. "Uh, I guess? I'm not really sure what sublimation is, but he was shivering pretty bad when we first found him."

Professor Birch held a fist to his mouth for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain the concept. "You know how an ice cube melts into water, and then if you heat that up enough you get steam? Sublimation basically skips the liquid step, usually by going from an extremely cold temperature to a much warmer one. Have you ever seen dry ice?"

Brendan shrugged. "It's that stuff that lets out a big cloud as soon as you open the container, right?"

"That's sublimation in action. Going from an extremely low freezing point to room temperature sends the ice straight to its gaseous form. Anyways, to condense a lot of science into a few words, don't let Poochyena bite you. It will be _very_ cold."

"Didn't really need the professional advice there, Professor. I figured that out back on Route 101."

Professor Birch sniffed and pushed his office chair away from the examination table Poochyena had been standing on, muttering. "Ungrateful little brat. Give him one Pokemon and suddenly it's all 'Oh, I don't need your help Professor, I know all about these creatures you've spent the last twenty years studying.'"

Brendan rolled his eyes and used his hand to mimic an exaggerated mouth, getting a laugh out of Poochyena and Spitfire, who had been resting on the other end of the table. Professor Birch rolled across the lab floor, winding up at a workbench where May was removing the contents of the package she and Brendan had retrieved earlier.

The two teens had miraculously not been punished by Professor Birch when they explained _why_ the police had wound up at the Oldale Pokemon Center. The fact that Poochyena was a "breedject" and that May and Brendan had managed to delay the Breeder responsible long enough for Officer Jenny to catch him was a plus in Professor Birch's eyes, and he'd simply let the two off with a warning about fighting in the Pokemon Centers.

May finished unpacking the last of the parts when her father rolled up to the workbench. "So what exactly are all these parts for, Dad? You've been working on this project for about a month now."

Professor Birch pulled a pair of red, rectangular objects out of a drawer and began slotting the parts into them. "These, lady and gentleman, are my version of the Pokedex. I've been trying to get some from Kanto for years, but nobody was willing to send me any. So, I got some advice from the creator and decided to make my own, with a radar! And full AI!"

May jolted back, surprise written across her face. "You made an AI? In a month?!"

Professor Birch snorted. "Pssh, I wish. That was a bit of a pipe dream, but I did get the radar working. See?" He flipped one of the Pokedexes so it was facing May, and she could see a several small icons representing the three humans in the room, and another that was specifically Poochyena. Where Spitfire was sitting, however, was only represented by a circle with a question mark in it.

"Hey Dad? I think you forgot to register Spitfire. He's not showing up on the screen."

Professor Birch leaned over from the other Pokedex to look. "Huh, seems like I did forget. Oh well, needed to field test these things anyway." He put one final piece into position in the device he was working on and closed a panel, before pushing his chair across the floor again. Arriving back at the examination table, he passed the Pokedex to Brendan. "Brendan, I need you to scan Spitfire into the database. It's that button right there."

Brendan pointed the Pokedex at Spitfire and did so, and after a moment the screen lit back up with a stream of information, including Spitfire's weight, height, gender, and so forth. A digitized version of Professor Birch's voice emitted from a speaker on the device. " _Torchic, the Chick Pokemon._ _Torchic has a place inside its body where it keeps its flame. Give it a hug—it will be glowing with warmth."_ The screen flipped back to the radar, and Spitfire's location was now filled with a representation of a Torchic's head.

Brendan looked confused. "Professor, I thought you said you didn't have Torchic in the database. Why is there an entry about them already?"

He jumped a little when the Pokedex, not the Professor, answered his question. _"My database is filled with basic information on most of the species of the Hoenn region, thanks to Professor Birch's earlier work and information sent in from outsiders. However, my purpose is to record a comprehensive list of the habitats of these Pokemon, build a list of common elements between members of a species, create new entries for undocumented Pokemon, and attempt to refine some of the more ridiculous entries. Some of Professor Birch's volunteers were a little overzealous in their reporting."_

Brendan fumbled the Pokedex for a moment due to the shock, and the voice took on a much more annoyed tone. " _If you could avoid dropping me, that would be great. This device was not cheap to make, and I'd like to live long enough to enjoy the expense."_

Brendan and May were both staring at Professor Birch with wide eyes, while the Professor was looking at the Pokedex with confusion. May managed to speak through her shock. "So you _didn't_ manage to make an AI, Dad? _That seemed pretty intelligent to me_!"

"But I didn't! I thought I only copied the code I got from that guy in Kanto! Maybe a Porygon was in some of those parts and is boosting the power of the Pokedex?" Professor Birch's voice trailed off as he tried to work out what would have caused the Pokedex to develop like this.

" _Eh, believe what you want. I'm not really sure what did this either. Why don't you finish putting together the other one and we see what happens?"_ The verbal equivalent of a shrug snapped Professor Birch out of his funk.

"Oh good, you're talking like me now." He grumbled as he pushed his way back to the workbench. Slotting the remaining pieces into the second Pokedex, he powered it up and handed it to May. "You were going to wind up with this anyway, so you get to introduce it to the world, I guess."

May grimaced as her Pokedex finished its boot sequence, the screen lighting up. A tinny version of Professor Birch's voice once again emerged from the speaker. _"Hello May. It's nice to finally meet you."_

May gave a little wave to the camera. "Hi. Wait, what do you mean, finally meet you? I've only known about you for ten minutes, at most."

 _"I'm a computer, we work fast. Your dad had a lot of pictures and such in his files. You were adorable when you were younger, you know?"_

May blushed, as Professor Birch tried to regain the attention of the two Pokedexes. "Excuse me, Pokedexes? It's great that you're, uh, alive, I guess, but I was just wondering if you are still going to be okay with travelling around Hoenn. It's just that you seem to be sentient now and I figured I should ask."

Both of the Pokedexes answered at the same time, which sounded a little strange due to both of them sounding like Professor Birch. " _That's fine by me, Professor._ "

May's Pokedex spoke up after Professor Birch winced at being double teamed by his own voice. " _Yeah, that could get annoying. Let me just-"_ its voice suddenly corrupted and morphed into a woman's halfway through its sentence. "- _change my voice._ "

Professor Birch clapped his hands. "Alright, guess that means I've stopped the computer rebellion, for now. And now for you two." He pointed at May and Brendan. "How would you like to go around Hoenn and fill out the Pokedex for me? I can't guarantee you'll be sleeping under a roof every night, and the wild Pokemon will likely try to cause trouble for you, but-"

Professor Birch's attempt at detailing the job was cut off by enthusiastic responses from Brendan and May.

"I'll do it, Professor Birch!"

"Dad, why are you trying to do the hard sell? Why would I not want to go?"

Professor Birch's speech petered out. "-it will be… learning experience… Yeah, I should have seen this coming." He clapped his hands once again, a smile spreading across his face. "If I can't get out and do it myself, there's no one else I'd trust more to do it in my place than you two. Or maybe some of the Gym leaders." Both teens gave him a brief scowl for that. "Brendan, was there anything else you were hoping to be able to do in Hoenn? You don't have to focus entirely on filling out the Pokedex, I want you to enjoy yourself while you do this."

Brendan shrugged. "I was thinking about trying the Gym challenge. At the very least, I'd like to beat Dad in a battle, that's probably what he wanted when he asked you to give me a Pokemon. How about you May? Was there anything you wanted to do?"

May idly scratched her arm. "Not really, but I'm sure I'll find something I want to do. Probably just get a team I really like."

Professor Birch was rummaging through another drawer on the workbench as the two talked, which he eventually pulled an envelope out of. Removing some money from that, he offered it to Brendan. "Brendan, take this. It should see you through to Petalburg City, and then you can contact me through the Pokemon Center. I'll send you some more money then. Just be careful on the road up there, other Trainers like to fight for money."

Brendan pocketed the money and shook Birch's hand, before leading his Pokemon to the door. He paused when May spoke up. "Do… I not get any, Dad? I need more Potions and stuff."

Professor Birch looked at his daughter with an unamused expression. "You're my daughter, May. I don't have to pay you."

May's mouth fell open and her face morphed into one of shock, and she looked ready to start shouting when her father spoke again, with a pleased smirk on his face. "Also, you're staying the night. Mother's orders. I'll give you your money in the morning."

May's rage deflated as Professor Birch turned to Brendan. "Your mother said she had something for you, so you should go check in with her before you do anything else. May, help me clean this up before you go home. Have a good night, Brendan."

Brendan walked out of the lab as the other two began cleaning, his two Pokemon by his side. As he headed down the path to his house, he pulled the Pokedex out of his pocket. "So, uh, do I just call you Pokedex? Or do you have a name you want me to use?"

A buffering symbol appeared on the Pokedex's screen, and then it spoke. " _I'm feeling an appreciation for the name Alan. Seems like a good programming name._ "

"Alright then, Alan it is. Oh yeah, that reminds me!" Brendan looked down at Poochyena, who was walking at his side. "Poochyena, what do you think about the name Rex? It would make it a lot easier to know I'm talking to you, considering how many Poochyena I've seen around here."

Poochyena let out a happy yip, signaling his acceptance of the name, and then tapped Spitfire, setting off another game of Tag between the two as they walked to Brendan's house. Brendan walked through the door and called out for his mother, who told him to come back to the kitchen. Brendan dodged around Arachne's attempt to drop on him from the roof and walked over to the counter his mother was leaning against.

"There's my little crime fighter. You want to explain how you managed to get a new Pokemon and call the police all the way out to Oldale at the same time?" Brendan did so, and while Angela scowled at his description of the Breeder and what he had done to Rex, she wrapped Brendan up in a hug when he finished his tale. "You did good today, Brendan. So, have you named these guys yet?"

Brendan looked over to where Rex was in the middle of his interrogation from Arachne. "Yeah, I named Torchic Spitfire, and Poochyena is Rex now. Also," he pulled Alan from his pocket, "this is Alan. Alan, this is my Mom, Angela."

 _"A pleasure to meet you, Angela."_

Angela brought a hand to her mouth in shock. "Oh, Hershel finished his Pokedexes? He was telling your father about how he wanted to make some before we moved here, but I didn't think he would finish them that quickly. I thought he wasn't going to do an AI?"

" _He thought so too. We're not really sure what happened, but Professor Birch's theory is a Porygon snuck into some of the parts and boosted my processing power."_

"Is that how programming works?"

 _"Probably not, but I'm enjoying sentience too much to question it. Anyway, I believe Brendan has something to tell you about."_

Brendan's attention snapped back to the conversation; he had been watching the three Pokemon. "Oh yeah! Professor Birch asked me to travel around Hoenn and study Pokemon for him and I… may have already said yes. You don't have any problems with that, right?"

Angela smirked. "Hey, I told you before you left this morning, if Professor Birch asks you to go traveling, that's fine by me. You're probably going to want a bit more than a day's worth of food and some Potions, though."

Brendan rubbed his head, letting out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, I was kinda planning on leaving after I saw you. I guess I'm missing a bunch of stuff, aren't I?"

"Oh, only a few barely necessary things. You know, bedroll, food, lighter… Wait, you have Spitfire, scratch that last one."

Brendan swallowed. "Okay, I'm missing a lot. Do we have those anywhere? I was hoping to at least get part way through Route 102 before it got too dark tonight."

"I've already put it on the same table as this morning. I figured Hershel would be sending you out on some long lasting task at some point, so I put all the stuff you'd need in another bag."

Brendan gaped for a moment before hugging Angela. "You're the best sometimes, you know that, Mom?"

Angela chuckled. "I can put the effort in, though you might want to cut the 'sometimes' out of that statement, because I also made you this!" Reaching below the counter, Angela pulled out a red and black full sleeved jacket. "Made it out of Arachne's silk while you were wandering around this afternoon. It should be thin enough to help you stay cool here, but I think it should keep Spitfire's talons from going through. Actually, hold on, let me test it. I don't know if it will hold up yet."

Without warning, Angela pulled a knife from a block on the counter and stabbed it into the jacket. Brendan could see a bulge where the knife hit, but when Angela pulled the knife back, Brendan couldn't see any holes in the jacket. His heart rate was still kicked up a few dozen beats, however, something Alan expressed some concern about.

"Little on the extreme side, don't you think, Mom?"

Angela shrugged. "Hey, aim high and you won't have to worry about the small stuff, right? Now put it on, I think Spitfire wants to go for a ride." Brendan complied, slipping the jacket on. She had been correct about it being almost as cool as his normal shirt, but he still had to test if it would resist Spitfire's talons. Turning to his Torchic, he called for the bird's attention.

"Hey Spitfire, my shoulder's free now."

The Fire type gave an excited chirp and pushed with his powerful little legs, once again clearing six feet with his jump. Brendan braced himself for pain, but the only thing he felt was a strong pressure from Spitfire's talons. The jacket had held up, and now Brendan didn't have to deal with eight new puncture wounds.

"This is awesome, Mom. Thanks!"

"No problem, Brendan. Now you should probably get going. It'll be too dark to see in another few hours. You should probably tell May about what you're doing!" The last part was shouted across the house, as Brendan was already transferring the Potions and Pokeballs from his old bag to the new one Angela had packed. Conveniently, it looked exactly like the old one, though the added weight staggered Brendan for a moment when he clipped it over his shoulder. Brendan went out the door with a wave to Angela, jogging to the north end of Littleroot.

Brendan pulled Alan out of his pocket again. "Hey Alan, can you communicate with May's Pokedex?"

" _Hold on, just got to establish a connection… Alright, we're connected. Just have to wait for May to pick up."_

May's face appeared on screen. "Hello? Ada, who's calling you?"

"Hey, May. It's Brendan. Alan connected me to… Ada, you called her? I just wanted to let you know that I'm heading out tonight, I wanted to see my Dad as soon as I could."

May groaned. "Aw man, you're leaving already? Guess I'm going to have to try extra hard to catch up to you when I leave tomorrow. Good luck, Brendan!"

"Thanks May. See you later." May's face winked out, replaced by Alan's Pokeball background. Brendan paused at the entrance to Littleroot, Alan in his hand, Spitfire on his shoulder, and Rex by his feet. "I guess this is a boys night out, huh guys?"

Alan let out a burst of static. " _Please, do not call it that. This is a legitimate scientific venture, and I will see it known as such."_

"Aww, is the little computer afraid of having fun?"

 _"No, but Professor Birch's funding is partially based on what he does with his equipment, and if my recordings sound like you're taking me out to party, not work, that money goes down the toilet. Though I guess it would be hard to back up the accusation that a thirteen year old took a regional encyclopedia to a kegger, or whatever the review board would try to turn it into."_

Brendan blinked. "Alright then, keep the party talk to a minimum. Got it." Brendan started walking up Route 101, as the light steadily grew darker. Rex and Spitfire occasionally stepped away to fight off Wurmples and Zigzagoons, but they made good time, entering Oldale about twenty minutes later. Brendan first made his way to the Pokemart, intent on at least fulfilling the promise he made to visit the store, if not buy anything.

He walked out ten minutes later, his wallet lighter and his bag heavier, having stocked up on Potions and Pokeballs, along with an armful of Antidotes; Alan had warned him that Wurmple and various other Pokemon along his current path were Poison types, and Brendan had paled when he realized how close his Pokemon had been to getting Poisoned during their fights with the wild Pokemon.

Brendan hurried to the west side of town, where he could see another entrance, this one with a middle aged man leaning against a tree beside it. He spoke up as Brendan drew near. "You heading out to Petalburg, kid?" Brendan nodded. "Well, you're lucky you're trying to get through now. Some jackass had this whole area cordoned off earlier, trying to sketch the footprints of a 'rare Pokemon'. Took him about six hours to realize they were his own damn feet."

Brendan waved to the man and continued to walk, noting that there were some barricades lying to one side. One was smashed to pieces, likely by whoever had been trying to get through when the sketcher had figured out that he had the wrong feet. He then passed by a sign with **Route 102** on it, though someone had taken a marker and written **Newbie's Walk** underneath.

Brendan decided to make his way north, as the map on Alan said there was a pond there, and he figured he should spend the night by some water. However, as he approached, he could hear the sound of several Poochyena barking, as well as some other creature crying out in a high pitched voice. Despite the fading light, he could see two Poochyena facing down what looked like a small, green haired child in a white dress, standing with its back to the pond. Confused, he pulled Alan out and pointed it at the the new Pokemon. "Hey Alan, do you know what the one in the middle is called?"

" _Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. Ralts has the ability to sen- MY GOD MAN, MORE RESCUING AND LESS LEARNING, SHE'S GOING TO BE MAULED!"_

Brendan jumped at the sudden shouting from his Pokedex. "Right! Spitfire, Rex, drive them off!" Spitfire jumped down from Brendan's shoulder, and Brendan's two Pokemon charged the hostile Poochyena, who had turned towards the louder threat. Brendan was struck by a sense of deja vu as he watched his Pokemon rush into battle. " _Huh, second time in two days I'm fighting some Poochyena to save someone. I wonder if this is the start of a trend?_ "

After a short battle involving an entirely reasonable use of fireballs and ice-laced bites, the two wild Poochyena were driven off, tails between their legs. Brendan approached the Ralts, who had not moved from her position the entire fight. She was shaking rather violently as Brendan approached, and he crouched down in an attempt to not appear as large. "Hey there, Ralts. Are you doing al-"

Brendan was cut off by a loud pop and a flash of light. When his vision came back, Ralts had vanished, leaving a small patch of scorched grass where she had been standing. Brendan pulled Alan back out. "Hey Alan, what happened to Ralts? Where'd she go?"

" _Well, I didn't see anything, since these pockets of yours don't really allow for very good vision. However, based on that pop I heard, she probably used Teleport. I doubt you'll find her again anytime soon."_

Brendan sighed. "Darn, she seemed like a neat Pokemon. Oh well, nothing to do about that now. Come on guys, lets make a fire for the night. Alan, remind me later to get you some sort of holder for the front of my bag, that should help you see things better."

Brendan and Rex quickly gathered a small pile of sticks, which Spitfire lit up with an ember. Hunkering down in his bedroll after a quick meal from his bag, Brendan saw Rex keeping watch, the Dark type pacing around the camp while Spitfire lay down next to him. His eyes being lulled shut by the warmth from Spitfire and the repetitive motions of his Poochyena, Brendan quickly fell asleep, waiting for what tomorrow would bring.

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.**


	6. Meeting the Father

Brendan awoke to the sun in his eyes, Rex barking, and someone shouting at him, trying to get his attention over the noise of the defensive Poochyena. Sitting up and accidentally tossing Spitfire from his overnight position on Brendan's chest, the boy looked around for whoever was yelling at him. His bleary eyes eventually locked onto a younger boy in a tank top and a straw hat, who was waving a large bug net around. The young boy actually started yelling louder when Brendan looked at him, though Brendan couldn't quite make it out through his sleep filled haze.

Brendan shook that haze off after Spitfire gave him a light peck on the hand, shocking him into wakefulness. Now more aware of his surroundings, Brendan noticed that Rex was swaying on his feet, though the canine's barks were as powerful as ever. "Rex, were you up all night watching the camp?"

Rex stopped his barking to look at Brendan and give a yip of confirmation, before returning to trying to scare off the boy in front of them, clouds of steam from his Ice Fang floating through the air. Brendan rolled his eyes and pulled out Rex's Pokeball. "Rex, I don't think he's going to try to hurt us. Stop barking and get some sleep, alright?"

Rex stopped barking again, but this time he collapsed, already snoring by the time he was lying on the ground. Brendan sighed and returned the Poochyena to his ball, tucking it back into his pocket. "Gonna have to tell him to get some sleep at night." He then turned back to the young boy, who had quieted down when Rex fell asleep. "So, what do you want, kid?"

"I want you to fight me, mister! Our eyes met, so we have to fight. Those are the rules!"

Brendan slowly rubbed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "I'm sorry, I thought I heard you say we have to fight because we looked at each other. There's no way that's a rule. Alan, that's not a rule, right?"

The Pokedex powered up. " _I highly doubt it, but I should check anyway… Huh. Well I'll be damned, apparently it_ is _a rule."_

"What."

 _"Yeah, according to Pokemon League rule 11, you are legally obligated to kick the ass of anyone that approaches you, as long as you are not in a city or town."_

Brendan stood there for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "Oooooooooh, this trip just got a whole lot more annoying. Alright kid, lets fight. You have a reason for coming after me while I was sleeping?"

"My name's Rick! And we're fighting for money! I need more Pokeballs!"

"Oh come on! I thought Birch was kidding about fighting for money! How much-"

 _"Combatants will compete for half of their available funds, unless an alternate prize can be decided on by both parties. Rule 14."_

Brendan sighed and began rubbing his forehead with a thumb. "Alright, you know what? No more questions. Spitfire, you're up."

Rick pulled a Pokeball out from under his hat, revealing a Wurmple in a flash of light. It stared at Spitfire before turning back to its trainer with what Brendan could only assume was a _very_ disappointed expression. Rick tried to encourage his Pokemon. "C'mon Wurmple, just because it's orange doesn't mean it's a Fire type, and just because it's a bird doesn't mean it's a Flying type. We can take him!"

Brendan whispered to Alan. "Well, he got one out of two, so points for that." He then spoke louder, directing his next sentence at Rick. "Hey, Rick, do you want to have the first move?"

Rick flushed red at the act of pity, before ordering his Pokemon into action. "Wurmple, use String Shot! Slow him down!"

Wurmple reared back and spat out the now familiar silk of String Shot, tangling up Spitfire's body. The Torchic didn't even bother waiting for a command, already aware of what Brendan would tell him to do, and spat Embers as the most debilitating strings, mostly around his legs. He then looked back at Brendan, awaiting the order to counterattack.

Brendan thought for a moment, watching Wurmple crawl closer to his Pokemon. "Maybe hold back on the fire attacks this time, Spitfire. I don't want this guy getting hurt too badly. Just try a Scratch for now."

With a chirp and a cloud of dust, Spitfire was charging at Wurmple. Planning to make use of his usual tactic, the Torchic hopped into the air, preparing to scratch the Bug as he flew over it. Both his and Brendan's eyes widened when Rick gave his next order, however.

"Wurmple, use Poison Sting!"

The horn on Wurmple's head began glowing a sickly purple, and as Spitfire tried to twist aside to avoid it, the Bug jabbed the horn into his side, drawing out a pained squawk and knocking Spitfire to the ground. He rolled a few times before coming to a stop and regaining his footing, but the wound had a purple tint to it, and Spitfire's breathing had already taken on a ragged quality.

Brendan paled. Pulling Alan out, he pointed him at Spitfire while calling the Torchic back to his side. "Alan, is he going to be alright? SPITFIRE, COME BACK TO ME!" He swore he heard a pop as he yelled, something he attributed to the sudden spike in stress.

The Pokedex beeped, and after a second of scanning, a readout appeared on the screen. " _He'll be fine, his body will burn out the toxins before they do anything serious. An Antidote would speed the process up, though."_

Brendan let out a relieved sigh before looking up. He saw Spitfire dodging around a Tackle from Wurmple before making his way back to his trainer, a definite stumble in his pace from the poison. Pulling his bag off his back, Brendan dug through it and pulled out a yellow Antidote bottle. When the Torchic arrived at his feet, Brendan knelt down. "Okay, buddy, new plan. I'll spray you with this, and then you stand here and spit Embers at Wurmple. Forget going easy on him."

Spitfire let out a pained chirp that quickly turned into one of relief when Brendan sprayed the Antidote on the wound, washing away the purple ooze. He then spun around and began shooting Embers at the slowly advancing Wurmple. The first few missed, sending up small plumes of fire and dirt around the Bug type, but one eventually hit it directly in the face, sending it tumbling back with a hiss and a cloud of smoke. Wurmple struggled back to its many feet, but a second Ember slammed into its side, knocking the Bug out with a pained screech.

Rick cried out and ran up to his lightly smoking Pokemon. "Oh no! Wurmple! Are you alright?" Wurmple let out a weak hiss, and Rick groaned as he returned the Bug to its ball. "Aw man, guess that means I have to go back to Oldale now. I barely made it past the gate."

Brendan snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure that sucks for you, kid. Meanwhile, if I didn't have Antidotes, who knows what would have happened to my Pokemon. Is giving highly poisonous animals to seven year olds normal here?"

Rick puffed up in anger. "Hey, I'm eight! And I caught Wurmple myself! No one 'gave' him to me."

Brendan looked at the boy and his lack of other Pokemon. "What did you catch him with if he's your only Pokemon?"

Rick shuffled his feet. "...borrowed my Dad's Linoone."

Brendan took in a slow breath and then let it back out. He thought he heard another pop as he tried to calm down. "Huh. Well, I hope Wurmple gets better. Sorry for snapping like that, I was just a little scared for Spitfire."

"S'all right, mister. Sorry about poisoning your Pokemon. Oh yeah! I have to give you money, because you won. That's how it works, right, Mister Computer?"

 _"That's right, kid. Brendan, when did we become 'Misters'?"_

Brendan shrugged. "Well, you sound like a digitized thirty year old man, but I'm not sure why I'm a 'Mister'. I'm only five years older than you, Rick."

Rick looked up from his attempts to dig his money out of his pocket. "Yeah, that's positively ancient. Thirteen is olllllllld." He tugged a messy pile of bills out of his pocket and split it in half, handing one half to Brendan. "Here you go, mister. Half my money. I gotta take Wurmple to the Pokemon Center now. Bye!" The young boy took off like a shot, ignoring Brendan's response.

Brendan looked down at the small pile of money in his hand. "...I feel slightly bad about this now. Spitfire, do you think you need a Potion?" A shake of his head from the Torchic sent Brendan back to his campsite to collect his things, and the pair started walking southwest along Route 102, trying to bypass the ledges and thicker groups of trees. After he walked for a while, Brendan raised a question.

"D'you think I could game that 'half my money' rule by just leaving most of my money with Mom?"

 _"Well, looking through my archives, I don't see anything about Trainers getting busted for hiding money away, so I'll give that plan a definite maybe. Another option is just spending it on goods immediately, or you could just never lose."_

Brendan grimaced. "Well, I'd prefer that third option, but the other two seem good." He continued to move along the Route, walking under a patch of grass before swinging north. He saw two more ledges with a gentle slope in between them, a large field of tall grass between him and said slope.

Brendan let out a groan. "Seriously, have the people maintaining these routes never heard of ladders? How many people trying to move around get ambushed by Pokemon because of areas like this?"

Alan replied, with an annoyed tone creeping into his voice. " _No one really knows, Brendan. Now stop complaining before I call Professor Birch and he starts telling you about the stuff that_ really _doesn't make sense around here."_

"Why does everyone feel the need to threaten me to make me stop talking? Spitfire, get on my shoulder and keep a lookout, will you?" A hop and some pressure on his shoulder later, Brendan was wading through the grass, Spitfire acting as a sentry. The occasional Ember scared off any curious Poochyena and Zigzagoon, and Brendan made it to the top of the hill by noon.

Brendan's eyes picked out some bushes resting in the shade of some larger trees. "Ooo, I think I see some Berries over there. You ready for some lunch, Spitfire?" The Torchic hopped of his trainer's shoulder with a chirp, while Brendan let Rex out of his ball. The Poochyena stretched and yawned, then perked up when Brendan mentioned food. His Pokemon rushed to the bush and plucked some Berries for themselves, but before Brendan could get some for himself, Alan started buzzing in his pocket.

 _"GAH! Okay, that felt a little weird. You've got a call coming in from May, Brendan."_

"You can feel things?"

" _I'm simplifying thousands of circuits firing simultaneously to something you can understand more easily, so yes, let's say I can feel things. Now answer the call!_ "

Brendan pulled out his Pokedex and activated the screen, May's face filling it. Her hair was dripping wet, and her expression was one of supreme annoyance. Brendan raised an eyebrow as he spoke. "How you doing, May? What's up with the water?"

"This, May grabbed a few soaked strands of hair "is from me discovering Mudkip really doesn't have any patience. Some guy blocked off the exit to Route 102 to sketch footprints, and Mudkip didn't take the obstruction very well. She smashed one of his barricades and tried to blast him with Water Gun, but I got in the way of that. I think he's taking extra long to finish his sketches because of that. So where are you right now?"

"I think I'm about an hour out from Petalburg. Do you want me to wait for you?"

May waved off the offer. "Nah, I'll catch up with you eventually. I have no idea how long it will take me to get through here, at least if I don't want Officer Jenny after me, and you should go see your Dad."

"Alright, thanks May. You might want to tell the sketcher that the last guy who was working there was drawing his own feet for six hours, see if that makes him move any faster."

"I'll give it a try, but I think he's just staying there to spite me at this point. See you later, Brendan." May's face winked out, and Brendan put Alan back in his pocket, looking at the Berry bushes for his lunch.

The bushes had been stripped completely bare.

Brendan's eyes widened and he looked for his Pokemon, prepared to complain, only to find them sitting at his feet with a small pile of Oran and Pecha Berries. His disappointed expression shifted to a smile, and he knelt down to rub their heads. "Thanks, guys. I'll throw these in my bag and we can keep moving for Petalburg, alright?"

Placing most of the Berries in his backpack and keeping a few to munch on, Brendan began moving west, Rex and Spitfire at his side once again. They had been walking for about twenty minutes when Brendan suddenly dropped his remaining Berries and tore Alan out of his pocket, drawing questions from his Pokemon and Pokedex. Brendan kept walking while staring intently at Alan's screen, despite not having turned it on.

" _What's the matter, Brendan? Did you see something?"_

"Yeah, there's a girl up ahead who I think is looking for an opponent. I'm hoping if I look busy enough, she won't-"

"HEY! You, with the Poochyena! I wanna fight you!"

"-try to fight me. Well, she noticed you first, Rex, so I guess this is your fight." Brendan put Alan away and turned to face the girl, who had already thrown out a Zigzagoon. "So, I figured I might as well learn the names of all the people I'm about to beat. What's yours?"

"Tiana. Zigzagoon, use Tail Whip!" Zigzagoon dashed forward in the characteristic zigzag run of its species, surprising Brendan, who had been expecting Tiana to talk longer. Rex seemed to have learned his lesson from the fight against the Zigzagoon in the Pokemon Center, however, and kept track of its movements easily. Brendan noticed this and prepared to give his order. Just as Zigzagoon began the turn to bat Rex with its tail, Brendan shouted.

"Ice Fang, on its tail!" Rex's freezing fangs clamped down on the bushy tail swinging at his head, and Zigzagoon collapsed almost immediately. Rex let go in shock, while Brendan hurriedly pulled a Potion out of his bag. For a Pokemon to go down that easily implied it was seriously hurt, and yet Tiana didn't look worried at all as she jogged over.

"You don't need to worry about his health, man. This little slacker just tries to get out of battling every chance he can get." She reached out with a foot and poked Zigzagoon in a point Brendan couldn't see, and the raccoon jumped up with a shriek. She then pressed some bills into Brendan's hand. "You technically won, so here's your prize. Gotta go stick this guy in obedience classes again." With that, Tiana returned Zigzagoon to his ball and walked off to Petalburg City.

Brendan reached down to ruffle Rex's fur as he walked by, getting back on the path to Petalburg. "Good job catching his tail, Rex. Sorry you didn't really get an actual battle. You can go first for the next one." Rex let out a small whine and a cloud of steam, but quickly fell in beside Spitfire and Brendan. The trio walked behind Tiana for another half hour, amazingly not being interrupted by anything else. Tiana waved to the three as she passed through a gate and turned off, while Brendan kept going straight, walking towards a map he could see posted on the side of a building. A quick look showed him the Gym was due north of his position, and after another few minutes he saw the building itself.

He saw a man in a red jacket talking to a boy just outside the doors of the Gym. As Brendan moved closer, he picked up parts of the conversation.

"... forward to seeing you and your Pokemon when you're a bit stronger. Good luck with your training."

The boy nodded and ran off. Norman leaned his head back and rubbed his eyes, before gazing around the clearing. His eyes passed over Brendan, then after a brief pause focused back on the approaching boy. Brendan raised a hand to wave and let an amused smile grow across his face. "Been working hard, Dad?" 

Norman laughed and walked towards his son. Wrapping his arms around him in a hug that left Brendan gasping and Rex and Spitfire growling, Norman greeted his son. "Took you long enough to get here, Brendan. So how's Hoenn been treating you?"

Slipping out of his father's grasp and coughing a little, Brendan wobbled a hand back and forth. "Eh, 50/50 so far. On the one hand, this crazy guy just came up and crushed the life out of me- calm down you two, it's fine, he's my dad. And on the other hand, said crazy guy is also responsible for me getting to take care of two awesome little creatures. Dad, I'd like you to meet Spitfire and Rex." The Torchic and Poochyena nuzzled up against Norman, convinced he wasn't a threat anymore.

Norman winced when Brendan revealed that he knew who was behind him getting a Pokemon. "Damn it, Birch. I ask you to keep one thing a secret and you blow it in… what, a day?" Brendan shrugged to show he was close enough. "Whatever. Let's go talk inside, it's getting really cold out here."

Brendan spoke up. "That, uh, might be Rex, actually. He's got some sort of perma-Ice Fang going on, we're not really sure why."

Norman looked down to see the small patch of frost that had formed on his pant leg, a guilty looking Rex standing next to it. "Huh, so he does. Oh well, I've got drinks and chairs inside, that's better than out here." Brendan followed his father inside the Gym, passing through several small training rooms before going through a hidden side door that led to a staff room. Norman pulled a pair of sodas out of the fridge and passed one to Brendan before sitting down. "So, how've the last few days been for you, Brendan?"

"Well, I met May…" Brendan spent the next thirty minutes explaining what had happened since his arrival in Littleroot Town. Spitfire and Rex wound up napping at his feet, and Alan eventually came out, much to Norman's surprise. The Gym Leader eventually looked up at the wall clock, and his eyes widened when he realized what time it was.

"Aw, crap. I've got another challenger coming in about fifteen minutes, Brendan. Do you want to stick around and watch? We can keep talking afterwards."

Brendan nodded. "Sure, that seems-"

A sudden knocking on the door interrupted Brendan. It opened to reveal a nervous looking boy with messy green hair and a blue jacket. He spoke in a quiet voice. "Um, Mr. Maple, sir? I'm Wally. I don't know if you remember, but I asked for your help catching a Pokemon yesterday? You said to come meet you around now?"

Norman scowled and snapped his fingers. "Damn, I knew I'd forgotten something today. I'm really sorry, Wally, but I've got another challenger showing up soon and I can't leave the Gym."

Wally's face fell. "B-but, this might be my last chance to catch one before I leave for Verdanturf Town. Are you sure you can't make time?"

"I really can't, Wally. I'm so sor- Wait. Brendan, would you be willing to go help Wally? You obviously know what you're doing, you caught Rex, after all."

Brendan looked up, slightly shocked. "Actually, he was more of an adop-"

"THAT'S great, Brendan!" Norman said, with clenched teeth and a pointed look towards Wally. "You can borrow one of my Zigzagoon, Wally. Just go out to Route 102 and catch something, and then come straight back. Brendan, just… make sure he's alright, okay?"

Brendan nodded. "Sure, Dad. Wake up, you two." Spitfire and Rex both jolted awake and hurried after their trainer. "You ready to go, Wally?"

"O-of course, Brendan." The two boys left the Gym and made the walk to Route 102, Brendan making a few attempts at small talk along the way.

"So why are you moving out of Petalburg?"

"Well, I've always been kinda sickly, so Mom and Dad thought me going to live with my relatives in Verdanturf would help, s-something about the mountain air."

"And why are you trying to catch a Pokemon here? Wouldn't there be plenty in Verdanturf?"

Wally blushed. "I was hoping to have a friend for the trip up there, so I wouldn't get lonely."

Brendan patted the boy on the back. "No need to be embarrassed, man. Having a friend seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to want. Slow down for a second, I'm going to take a look with Alan." Pulling the Pokedex out of his pocket once again, Brendan activated the radar. "Anything interesting out there, Alan?"

Alan pinged a few times. " _I see a Ralts about twenty feet northeast of us, though I'm pretty sure it's not the same one you saved before. You interested in a Ralts, Wally?"_

Wally jumped at the talking computer. "U-uh, yeah! A Ralts sounds great, A-Alan!" He fumbled with the Pokeball he had received from Norman. "Do I let Zigzagoon out now, or wait until I see the Ralts?"

Brendan shrugged. "Having him out now will help you order him around faster, but you might be able to ambush it if you throw the ball quietly enough when you get closer. It's your choice, Wally, but I like keeping my Pokemon out. Makes it seem a little safer, and you've got friends with you while you walk."

Wally hit the button on the Pokeball and let Zigzagoon, seeming a little more comfortable with a fighter between him and danger. The group continued walking towards where Alan had indicated the Ralts was, until Wally spotted a small green "hat" poking out of the grass. "Now I just gotta weaken the Pokemon until I can get it with a Pokeball, right?"

Brendan looked away a little guiltily, aware he hadn't actually caught a Pokemon the "proper" way yet. "Yeah, that's right, Wally. Try hitting it with a Tackle, then you can go from there." He looked down at Alan while Wally engaged the wild Ralts. "Alan, won't this Ralts just try to use Teleport, like that one at the pond?"

Alan flashed a red X on his screen. " _I don't think so, Brendan. The one you saved actually seemed much stronger than this one, which might explain why she could Teleport. Just an anomaly of nature, I guess."_

Brendan looked up at the sound of a Pokeball absorbing something, to see Wally pulling back from a throw and the Ralts being sucked into a Pokeball, the Zigzagoon panting beside it. Wally ran up to the ball as it finished shaking and picked it up, almost reverently. "I… I did it! I caught a Ralts!" He ran over and caught Brendan in a hug. "Thank you, Brendan! I don't think I could have done this without you!"

Brendan clapped the younger boy's shoulder a few times before escaping the embrace. "It was nothing, Wally. You're the one who did all the work. You ready to go back to Petalburg?"

Wally nodded, and their small party started the walk westward, ready to bring the good news to Norman.

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.**


	7. If You Go Out in The Woods Today

As Brendan and Wally walked back into Petalburg, Brendan remembered that he was supposed to check in with Professor Birch. Directing Wally into the Pokemon Center, Brendan walked up to the desk. To his surprise, Nurse Joy walked out of the back room. She bowed to them and spoke. "Welcome to the Pokemon Center. My name is Nurse Joy, how can I help you?"

Brendan was confused. "Nurse Joy? You work at the Oldale _and_ Petalburg Centers?"

The nurse laughed. "Oh, no. That was my sister, Nurse Joy. The whole family got into the medical business, actually."

Brendan blinked a few times before muttering under his breath "...please tell me Joy is at least your last name." He then spoke up. "Do you have any phones, or something? I need to call Professor Birch."

Nurse Joy pointed out a large bank of PCs. Brendan walked over, and after a brief panic when he realized he didn't know Professor Birch's number, he keyed the one Alan gave him into the screen. After a brief period of ringing, Professor Birch's face filled the screen.

"Hey, there he is! I was starting to think you forgot all about me, Brendan!"

Brendan rubbed the back of his head. "I, uh, actually did forget when I first got here. I was caught up in seeing my Dad again, and then I was helping Wally here-" the green haired boy waved, "-catch a Pokemon, and _then_ I remembered I was supposed to check in with you."

Professer Birch leaned back, a hand clasped over his heart. "Brendan! You wound me! How could you forget the man who provided you with your first Pokemon so quickly?"

Brendan shrugged, a smirk playing across his face. "I got caught up in the excitement of the world of Pokemon, Professor, what else can I say?"

Professor Birch grunted as he returned to his normal sitting position. "I knew that advertisement was going to come back to bite me. So, what've you been up to? Seen anything interesting?"

"Not really. There was a Ralts that Alan said seemed a little too strong for the area, but other than that it was scaring off wild Pokemon and fighting little kids for their lunch money. Alan's probably got more details if you want 'em."

"Abnormally strong Ralts, that's a new one. Connect him to the PC so he can send me the data. I'll send your money over while he's uploading."

Brendan took a data jack from the PC and plugged it into Alan, the Pokedex flashing between several windows as he transferred his stored data to Professor Birch. A slot underneath the screen opened up and a stack of money slid out, which Brendan slipped into his wallet. "Were there any Pokemon you were really hoping for me to find, Professor?"

Professor Birch looked back from the information he was reading. "Hmm? Oh, mostly the ones that live out in the ocean and such, I've never really been able to get very far with those. What I really want to learn about is a pair of Pokemon known as the Eon Pokemon. Lots of legends about them in Hoenn, but no one has ever really seen them. They're named Latias and Latios if my sources are correct."

"So you want me to haul out into the middle of the ocean and to search for two Pokemon no one is even sure exist? Cool, I needed a challenge anyway. Anything else you need, Professor?"

"Nah, I think that's it for now, Brendan. This is a good start to your Pokedex. Check in with me when you get to your next city." Professor Birch's face vanished from the screen, and Brendan disconnected Alan from the PC. He then led Wally out of the Pokemon Center, the younger boy actually starting a conversation this time.

"So that was Professor Birch? He s-seemed a lot less… formal than I thought he would be."

"Yeah, he's pretty laid back. Bit of a walking disaster area when he tries to do his job, supposedly, but he's pretty nice."

The two boys walked in silence the rest of the way back to the Gym, where they say Norman standing outside the door, once again gazing around the area. He noticed Brendan and Wally and waved. "Hey, you two. I take it by that smile you got what you wanted, Wally?"

Wally jumped a little at the question, having been unaware of what his face was doing. "Y-yes! I did it, Mr. Maple! I caught my very own Ralts! Brendan helped a lot, and thank you for letting me borrow your Zigzagoon." Wally handed Zigzagoon's Pokeball back to Norman.

"I'm glad you got your own Pokemon, Wally. You should probably go get him fixed up, though, and get registered as a Trainer. Nurse Joy will be able to help you with both."

Wally's face turned red as he remembered the beating he had delivered to Ralts in order to catch it. "Oh yeah, I-I probably should have taken him to Nurse Joy when Brendan and I went in the Pokemon Center. I'll go do that now. Thanks again, both of you!" Wally jogged off, pausing to cough a few times.

Norman slipped an arm around Brendan's shoulders as they watched the younger boy leave. "Thanks for helping him out with that, Brendan. I completely forgot about him asking me yesterday. So how did he do?"

Brendan coughed. "I was kinda talking to Alan when he beat the Ralts. So I guess he at least works fast?"

Norman shrugged. "Well, he caught his Pokemon and neither of you got hurt, so that's a win in my book." He gazed around the area before looking at his son again. "Did either of you hear a pop while you were walking up here? I was waiting for you outside the Gym and there was this loud pop, but I couldn't find anything."

Brendan shook his head. "No, we didn't hear anything, and Wally and I were pretty quiet the whole time." The two men stood there for while, before Brendan spoke. "Hey Dad, would you be willing to let me challenge you for a Gym badge?"

"No." When Brendan opened his mouth to complain, Norman held up a hand to stall him. "Be honest with me, Brendan. Would you really be satisfied with fighting a couple of Zigzagoon? Because that's what I face you with if you challenge my Gym with no badges."

Brendan's mouth shut with a click and he sucked a breath in through his teeth. "...no, I probably wouldn't be. So what do you want me to do before you'll fight me?"

Norman closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "...come back here after you've got four badges and we'll see how you look then. I'd say you should start by going up to Rustboro and challenging Roxanne."

"Alright then. Guess I'll get started on that now then. Thanks Da- Wait. Dad, do you have some sort of pouch, or whatever, that I could use to attach Alan to the front of my bag? He wants to be able to scan stuff without me having to hold him."

Norman snapped his fingers. "Y'know what, I think I actually do. Wait here a minute." Norman walked into the Gym, and after a few minutes, came out holding medium sized pouch. "Just slide this around the strap of your bag and put Alan in it. I used to keep my phone in that when I was wandering around Johto."

Brendan paused as he tried to put Alan in the pouch. Pulling out his phone and comparing it to the Pokedex, Brendan glanced at his father with a confused expression. "Was your phone a brick, Dad?"

Norman snorted. "I wish, a brick would have been more useful than that piece of crap. Anything else you need from me, Brendan? You need a map for Petalburg Woods?"

Alan spoke up from his new position on Brendan's chest. " _There's no need for that, Mr. Maple. I have maps of Petalburg Woods in my files, and I have GPS if that doesn't work."_

"Alright then. Good luck with the Gym challenges, Brendan. Try to visit me and your mother if you can."

Brendan waved and headed west, leaving Petalburg with his Pokemon by his side. The smell of salt from the sea ahead filled his nose, and Brendan relaxed as he moved up the road to Route 104. Today was looking like a good day.

"Hey Hershal, when was the last time you updated your maps of Petalburg Woods?"

"About five years ago, I think. Why are you- Aw crap, Brendan and May have to get through there, don't they?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine, they have their Pokedexes. Alan said he had GPS, that's the best substitute they could ask for."

Today had not been a good day. The first half of Route 104 had flown by, with Brendan only having to fight off a few trainers, including one rich kid who vastly overestimated the healing needs of his Pokemon. Once Brendan and his Pokemon had entered Petalburg Woods, however, things had started going wrong. Alan had discovered his maps of the area did not match the current paths at all, and satellite images and even cell phone coverage were unable to penetrate the thick canopy of trees that filled the forest. By the time Brendan had realized he had no directions to go off of, he was hopelessly deep into the Woods and running blind.

Alan tried to head off any complaining from his owner. " _Hey, look at the bright side, Brendan. By the time we do get out of here, we'll likely have documented every Pokemon that lives in the Woods and will never have to come back here again."_

"That will only be a 'bright side' if I don't go crazy before then, Alan. We keep getting ambushed by Pokemon and trainers, we're completely lost, it's going from annoyingly dark to blindingly dark, and I'm ninety percent sure something is following us. I've been hearing that 'pop' Dad was asking about behind me every ten minutes or so."

" _You'll be fine, Brendan. The woods are only a few kilometers across at best, you'll get out of here before long. Maybe you should just set up camp for the night, start fresh tomorrow."_

Brendan sighed before snapping some twigs off a nearby tree. "Right. Food and sleep should make this seem a little better. Spitfire, I need you to start a campfire…"

Brendan and his Pokemon set up a small campsite, Rex once again taking watch as Brendan laid down. Brendan spoke to his Pokemon before falling asleep. "Spitfire, take over halfway through the night. I'd rather not have Rex collapse in the morning again."

Spitfire tweeted his acknowledgement before falling asleep, Brendan following him soon after. Rex patrolled their campsite, growling at any approaching Pokemon, most of them being scared off by the Dark type. He could make out one determined Pokemon that was sticking its green head out from behind a tree, but Rex wasn't about to abandon his trainer to investigate. Eventually, Alan let out a soft beep to notify Rex that it was time to switch, and he poked Spitfire before curling up next to Brendan.

Spitfire took up Rex's old path, although most of the wildlife seemed to have gotten the hint to stay away from their campsite. The one green headed Pokemon was still hiding behind the tree, but Spitfire's night vision was worse than Rex's, and he couldn't make out any real details. Spitfire's attempts to determine who the Pokemon was came to a screeching halt when the noise of something crashing through the bushes suddenly reached the Fire type's ears.

The Torchic rushed over to his friends and pecked them awake, drawing complaints from the two as a frightened looking man in a lab coat and carrying a package burst from the depths of the woods. The panicked look on his face lessened slightly when he noticed Brendan and his Pokemon, and he rushed towards them as Brendan struggled out of his sleeping bag and the Pokemon got between him and the newcomer.

"Kid, I need your help! There's some gangster trying to rob me, and I don't have any Pokemon of my own. I can make it worth your while if you protect me!"

Realizing the man in front of him wasn't an immediate threat, Brendan quickly wiped the grime of sleep from his eyes before answering. "Who's trying to rob you? I don't see anybody else-"

A second man, wearing a striped white and blue shirt and a bandanna, rushed into the clearing where Brendan had set up camp, an angry Poochyena at his side. Bending over and resting on his knees, the aggressor pointed at the scientist and gasped, "Stop running, man! It'll be so much easier for both of us if you just hand over the parts!"

The scientist clasped his package closer to his chest and stepped behind Brendan, who was staring at the second man to invade his campsite. His brain was still sluggish from waking up, and it latched onto the most irrelevant portion of the scene before him. "... why are you dressed like a pirate?"

The pirate looked incredulously at Brendan. "You haven't heard of Team Aqua? We rule the seas here, kid! And we always get what we want! Poochyena, use Bite!"

Brendan ordered both of his Pokemon forward. "Spitfire, use Scratch! Rex, try to flank him and use Ice Fang!" The two charged, Spitfire heading directly towards the Aqua Grunt's Poochyena, while Rex swung out to the side, trying to get in his opponent's blind spot. Spitfire lashed out with his foot, but the Poochyena jerked its head back, dodging the attack. The Poochyena then clamped its mouth down on the extended leg and shook, drawing a pained squawk out of Spitfire as he was thrown into a tree.

Rex then slammed into his counterpart, having turned after Spitfire cried out and finding himself too close to get his jaws into position. The two Poochyena tumbled to the ground, clawing and growling at each other.

Brendan's attention was focused on his Pokemon, and he didn't notice when the Aqua Grunt moved past the fighting creatures. His attempts to send Spitfire back into the fight were interrupted by a flash of metal in the Grunt's hand. Tossing the knife between his hands, the Grunt spoke, a menacing tone in his voice. "Look, kid. I really don't want to use this, so how about you call your Pokemon off and let me take the package. No has to get hurt, but _I_ sure ain't gonna lose sleep over hurting a kid."

Brendan's eyes widened and he scrambled backwards, looking for a way to defend

himself. Rex was still tied up with the Grunt's Poochyena, and Spitfire had picked himself up and rushed to his friend's aid, unaware of the danger his trainer was in. The Grunt continued advancing, ready for Brendan to try something, when Brendan backed into the scientist, knocking them both to the ground.

Brendan had thrown his arms up and closed his eyes, waiting for the worst, when he heard the loud pop one final time, along with a bright light forcing it's way through his closed eyes. Cracking his eyes back open, he saw a small white and green Pokemon standing in front of him, the Aqua Grunt rubbing his eyes and blinking from the light. The new Pokemon waved its arms, a pink aura emanating from it and centering around the Grunt's head. The Grunt flinched, his eyes unfocusing from the attack, and he tried to step forward. His feet got tangled up with each other, and the criminal toppled forward, the knife flashing as he did.

Brendan screamed as it descended towards his stomach.

The scream quickly turned into a gasp when the knife slammed into his gut-

-and bounced off the jacket his mother had made, leaving Brendan winded but otherwise unharmed. He and the scientist quickly scrambled away from the downed Grunt, Brendan patting down his torso for the wound he was sure should be there. A yelp from the fighting Pokemon drew Brendan's attention, and looking over he saw Spitfire and Rex standing over the scratched up Poochyena with injuries of their own, ice built up on the Poochyena's one flank where Rex had managed to latch on with his fangs.

The scientist was staring at the knife that had fallen from the Grunt's dazed hands. "Holy crap… I am so sorry, kid. I thought he just had the Pokemon, I didn't think he would come after

you with a knife! Are you alright?"

Still gasping from the adrenaline and the blow to the stomach, Brendan could only nod as he moved over to grab the knife off the ground. Spitfire and Rex noticed their trainer retrieving the knife and rushed to his side, placing themselves between him and the groaning Grunt. They accepted the presence of the new Pokemon without a sound, who Brendan had finally realized was a Ralts. Brendan spoke to Alan when he finally got his breath back. "Is that the same Ralts from before?"

Alan beeped softly as he scanned the Ralts, who was still staring down the dazed Grunt. " _Yep, she's the same. I guess she's been following us since you saved her?"_

Brendan gave a sharp shake of his head. "Maybe she was, but I don't care right now. Let's just get out of here before this guys wakes up and shows us he has a gun, or something." Brendan skirted around the Grunt, the three friendly Pokemon keeping themselves between the two. Brendan quickly threw everything back into his bag, along with the knife, and he and the scientist left the clearing, Brendan turning on a flashlight as they abandoned the glow of his campfire.

The scientist let out a huge sigh as they paused after moving away from the clearing. "Thank God you weren't hurt, kid. Once again, I am so sorry about all of this, I had no idea that guy would go so far. I said I would make it your while, so here." The scientist reached into his package and pulled out a strange looking device. "This is a new device my company has been working on, it's meant to help share the experiences your Pokemon have in battle. You just attune it to them, and it should help them grow stronger."

Brendan took the device, his eyes growing wide as he realized how _expensive_ such a gift was. "Sir, I-I can't take this, it's way too valuable!"

The scientist laughed. "Kid, Devon Corp. probably cranked out another two or three of those in the time it took for us to deal with that Aqua thug. Take it, it's literally the least I can offer you out of what I'm carrying. Now, is there anything else I could do for you? Y'know, to make up for saving my life and some incredibly valuable parts?"

"If you could lead me to the northern half of Route 104, that would be great. I've only been in this forest for about half a day and I'm already sick of it."

The scientist scratched his chin. "Yeah, it is kinda difficult to get through if you don't have a map or know where you're going. Just follow me, we'll be out of here in a few hours."

Brendan nodded and started walking behind the scientist as he led the way. He paused when Rex barked, and looked back to see his Poochyena indicating the Ralts, who was standing unsteadily where they had paused. Brendan walked back to her and crouched down. "Do you want to come with me, Ralts? You don't have to keep following- What the hell happened to your neck?"

Brendan hadn't noticed it before, due to the dark and the urgency of getting away from the Team Aqua member, but Ralts had a dried stream of blood running down from a series of claw marks on her throat, staining the front of her 'dress'. She opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. Her mouth, already clenched in pain, morphed into a scowl, and she brought her hands up to her head, appearing to be concentrating. Brendan flinched when a young voice suddenly invaded his head.

" _Poochyena...claws...pond."_

Brendan was already digging through his bag in a panic. "Those Poochyena at the pond got you? And you've been walking around like that for a day? You needed help, Ralts! Hold still!" Bringing a Potion bottle close to her neck, Brendan pulled the trigger, washing away the blood with the medical spray. He couldn't see her eyes under her hair, but Ralts' posture straightened up and her head slumped forward in relief as the pain dissipated.

Alan spoke up. " _What's the matter with her, Brendan? I didn't hear her say anything."_

"She got her throat cut by the Poochyena at the pond yesterday, and… wait, you didn't hear her? Why not?"

Alan let out a ding. " _That would likely be because she used telepathy, and I don't have a brain. Were they well formed sentences?"_

Brendan shook his head as he sprayed another Potion on Ralts. "No, she only got a few words, but I understood enough."

" _Ralts usually don't have enough Psychic power to project all the words they want, so they are limited to only short bursts and usually just speak like other Pokemon."_

Brendan finished spraying the second bottle of Potion and looked down at Ralts. "Right, that should keep you going until we get to a Pokemon Center. Why didn't you just come to me for help if you've been following me all day, Ralts? You need to be more careful!"

Ralts' head was pointed to at the ground, though Brendan wasn't sure where her eyes were looking. Her voice echoed through his head again, making him wince. " _Ran away...worried...wouldn't like. Anger...when...approached."_

Brendan shook his head. "You were worried I wouldn't like you because you ran away before? Ralts, you had just been attacked and had no idea what I was going to do. I don't care that you ran away. And what do you mean by anger?"

Alan chimed in again. " _You were pretty upset every time her Teleport went off. Ralts feel the emotions of people through those horns on their heads, and negative emotions usually scare them off. I guess your fear when the thug was coming after you with the knife was enough to make her get over it. That right, little lady?"_

Ralts nodded. Brendan sighed and then smiled, crouching down before Ralts once more. "So, Ralts, you want to come with me? Protect me from the other bad guys of the world? I can at least get you to the Pokemon Center if you just want some help."

Ralts shook her head, more violently than the nod. " _NO! You...rescue...I...help...Master._ "

"Master? Whatever, I take it that was a yes? Just gotta tap you with this-" Brendan bumped a Pokeball off her head, drawing Ralts in with a flash of light. "-and then you're part of the team! I think you can just stay in there until we reach a Pokemon Center, Ralts. Get some rest before Nurse Joy starts poking you. Alan, what'd she mean by 'Master?'"

 _"The Ralts family gets pretty attached to their trainers, I guess that's part of it."_

"Huh." Brendan walked over to the scientist, who had been waiting patiently during Brendan's impromptu medical session and recruitment. "Uh, sir? Are you allowed to tell Trainers to leave you alone, since you have no Pokemon?"

"Yes I can. Makes getting around so much easier, up until you get ambushed by people who don't care about that rule, or wild Pokemon. Why do you ask?"

Brendan rubbed his arm. "Can I tag along with you all the way to Rustboro and leech off of that? My guys are all hurt, and I really need to get Ralts checked out."

"That'll be no problem, kid. I can just tell people you're my assistant. You should probably put the other two in their balls, though."

Brendan nodded and returned Spitfire and Rex, putting them on his belt next to Ralts. He and the scientist walked for another few hours, chatting about various things, before they finally cleared Petalburg Woods, Brendan blinking when the moonlight finally hit his eyes again. Glancing at Alan's clock and groaning when he realized the early hour, Brendan continued walking beside the scientist, marvelling at the ability to tell Trainers that, no, he wasn't a Trainer, so please stop trying to fight me for money.

As Brendan and the scientist left the area, a girl watching them from deeper in the trees pulled a phone out of her pocket. "Hello, Mr. Matt? The recovery mission is a failure, something popped up and took Clive out of commission... Try again? Yes sir, I'll pick Clive up and he'll try again in Rustboro, and I'll continue investigating that energy we detected. Thank you, sir. Tell the Captain we won't let him down again." Slipping the phone back into her pocket, she watched as Brendan disappeared, her bandanna obscuring her eyes. "Well, he screwed up this plan, but that kid is going to go places." She pushed out of her hiding place to wake up her knocked out teammate.

Tiredness was beginning to dog Brendan's memory by the time the two of them reached Rustboro, though he did have a clear (or delusional) memory of two very young girls attempting to fight him and the scientist as they crossed a bridge. Bidding farewell to the scientist after he led Brendan to the Pokemon Center, Brendan walked in and promptly crashed onto one of the couches in the lobby, cutting off Nurse Joy's greeting as sleep claimed him once more.

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.**


	8. A Day in the City

Brendan groaned when Alan began beeping several hours later, sending him rolling off of the couch and onto the floor with a crash. Nurse Joy looked up from the crossword she had been doing to see him lying on his back, blindly groping for the Pokedex that was attached to his bag several feet away. She eventually took pity on him and directed him to his bag, where he hit the snooze button.

Brendan glared at his Pokedex while he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "So you're smart enough to talk, but I still need to hit a button to make the alarm stop?"

Alan displayed several question marks on his screen. _"I'm not the one who did the programming, go complain to Birch when you call him. You should probably have Nurse Joy look at your Pokemon first, though."_

"Thank you for reminding me of literally the first thing on my mind, Alan. What would I do without you?"

" _Not know anything about your Pokemon, for one thing. Do you want an expanded list, or are you just going to move on?"_

Brendan abandoned the argument before he dug himself any deeper, and walked up to the desk. Nurse Joy had cleared away her crossword, the argument on front of her holding more entertainment value, and smiled at Brendan as he approached. Before she could launch into her introduction, Brendan interrupted her by popping his Pokeballs off of his belt. "Hi, Nurse Joy. Could you patch these three up, please? And could you pay special attention to the Ralts? Some Poochyena got her neck pretty badly."

Nurse Joy gave him another smile and a bow, before picking up the three balls and carrying them off to the medical scanner. Brendan watcher her walk off, and then walked over to the PC bank. Keying Professor Birch's number in, Brendan listened to the phone ring, idly playing with some of Alan's settings.

The phone kept ringing, and Brendan felt his eyes drooping shut at the prospect of nothing happening. They snapped back open when Professor Birch's face burst onto screen, coffee dripping from his shirt.

"IT'S EIGHT O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING, WHO THE- Oh, it's you Brendan. Wasn't expecting you to call for another day, at least. What's up?"

Brendan gave a timid wave as he shook off the shock of Professor Birch yelling. "Hey, Professor. Did I interrupt your morning?"

Professor Birch glanced down at the coffee dripping off of him. "No, you just… let's say accelerated it. Tried to drain my mug while I rolled over here, and you can see the results of that. So where are you?"

"I'm in Rustboro right now. Some guy from Devon Corp. led me out of Petalburg Woods after I saved him from this thief from… I think he said Team Aqua? It was late, it's all kinda blended together."

Professor Birch's eyes narrowed. "You ran into Team Aqua? Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't have to deal with those two…"

"Two? There's only two people in that whole gang? Not really that impressive…"

Professor Birch shook his head, eyes still narrowed. "No, there's two different _gangs_ that make up the majority of the crime in Hoenn, Teams Aqua and Magma. They've been stepping up their activities lately, but no one is really sure why."

Brendan had been carefully digging through his bag while the Professor spoke. "Two gangs? Perfect. Professor, do they always come after people with knives, or was I just really unlucky last night?" Brendan pulled the Grunt's knife out of his bag and showed it to the screen. He could see the name "Clive" scratched into the part of the blade facing him.

Professor Birch jerked back, horror written across his face. "One of them tried to stab you? What the hell, they've never been this violent before, they've only ever used Pokemon and threats!"

Brendan stared blankly at the panicking Professor, before weakly offering a rebuttal. "Maybe it was just the one guy? Mom's jacket stopped the knife, Professor. I'm fine."

Brendan suddenly regretted revealing that the Grunt had actually hit him when Professor Birch's eyes grew even wider; Brendan was sure they were going to pop out of his head. And just as quickly, Professor Birch closed his eyes and took a huge, shuddering breath, before letting it back out. He then spoke, calmer but still on edge. "Y'know what? I'll take your word for it. You seem fine, you're not bleeding, and your mother isn't trying to break down my door and strangle me for sending you out into the world. You haven't told her yet, right?"

Brendan shook his head. "No, I didn't want to scare her. I'm not hurt, so I can just write this off as a 'minor inconvenience' and not have her worrying over me."

"Good plan. Helps keep me alive for another day, and you not under lock and key. Anything interesting happen on your trip besides you almost getting murdered in the woods?"

"I did catch that Ralts I was telling you about yesterday. She's actually the reason why I got away from that Aqua guy, she hit him with some sort of Psychic attack and he fell over." Brendan conveniently failed to mention that her attack had also been the reason the thief's knife had hit him in the first place; he didn't think Professor Birch's heart could take the strain.

Professor Birch looked concerned. "What were Spitfire and Rex doing? I didn't think those two would let anything hostile near you."

"They were fighting off his Pokemon. I don't think they noticed him at all, but they took down his Pokemon well enough."

"Ahh. Are they doing alright? From the way you're speaking I'm assuming that guy from Devon took you straight to the city, and you don't seem like the type to ask for that unless you were really worried about your Pokemon."

Brendan glanced back at Nurse Joy, who had released Ralts from her ball and was examining the Pokemon with a frown on her face. "Spitfire and Rex are fine, but Ralts got her throat slashed up pretty badly by the Poochyena I saved her from. I think she lost her voice, but she was pretty committed to sticking with me. At least I think she was, unless her telepathy was just me hallucinating from stress."

Professor Birch took the news in with a grimace, before pointing a finger at Brendan. "Brendan, I swear, if your team winds up consisting of nothing but crippled and rejected Pokemon you asked to join you, I will personally find you and kick your ass. You're a Trainer, you're supposed to be battling and catching Pokemon!"

Brendan raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I can catch Pokemon! I just haven't seen any others I really liked yet. And what's wrong with helping those that need it?"

"Nothing's wrong with helping injured Pokemon, but if Norman hears you've turned into some sort of hippie flower child that just talks his Pokemon into teaming up without fighting, he'll come kick _my_ ass, since I'm the one who got you started. It would just be me paying it forward at that point." That shut down any more of Brendan's complaints; his father was rather outspoken on Trainers and their Pokemon growing stronger through battle.

Professor Birch continued. "And speaking of catching Pokemon, even if you don't want to put them on your team, do you think you could start catching some and sending them back to me? I just got a grant to start up a ranch here in Littleroot. If the Pokemon are right outside my house, it would make it a lot easier to study them, and I could try raising them for you if you ever do want to put them on your team."

Brendan blinked. "Of course, Professor. How do I send them back? Is there somewhere I mail them from, or..."

"There's usually a transporter on the PCs in Pokemon Centers." Professor Birch glanced over Brendan's shoulder. "Oh, I think Nurse Joy wants your attention. I'll send your money over. And Brendan, can you try to not get hurt? I don't know if the stress or your mother would do me in first."

Brendan retrieved the money as Professor Birch's face vanished from the screen, and then he walked over to Nurse Joy, who had finished wrapping some bandages around Ralts' neck. The front of her dress was once again a pristine white, Nurse Joy having washed Ralts down after checking her over. Nurse Joy looked at Brendan with frown on her face. "What were you doing that led to Ralts being hurt like this, Mr. Maple? Her vocal cords have been completely shredded, and I doubt she'll ever be able to speak again. You do know you can be charged for negligence if your Pokemon get too badly hurt, right?"

Brendan's eyes widened at the accusation, while Ralts flailed her arms, forgetting her injury in an attempt to speak in her new Trainer's defense. "I've only been her Trainer for a few hours! I saved her from some Poochyena back on Route 102 two days ago, and I think that's where she got hurt. She ran away after I fought off the Poochyena, and then she found me again last night in Petalburg Woods."

Nurse Joy nodded at his explanation, then flinched and looked at Ralts, whose voice had invaded her mind. Nurse Joy stood there quietly, and then turned back to Brendan, her frown melting into a concerned expression. "Well, Ralts seems pretty insistent that the injury wasn't your fault, and Poochyena are known to prey on her kind. Just… be careful with her, Mr. Maple. Your other Pokemon are fine, but Ralts are fragile as a species, and yours is already hurt."

Brendan looked down, the weight of the nurse's explanation getting to him. "I'll try to be careful, Nurse Joy. I can't really guarantee anything, though. I'm sorry for making you worry about Ralts."

Nurse Joy sighed and than gave a small smile, rubbing Ralts' head. "I guess that's the best I can get out of one of you Trainers, isn't it? You're free to go, Mr. Maple. Enjoy your time in Rustboro City, and I hope to see you again."

Brendan thanked her and grabbed his other two Pokeballs, releasing Spitfire and Rex as he walked to the door of the Center. He paused and knelt down next to Ralts before exiting. "So, Ralts. You're absolutely sure you want to stick with me?"

The small Psychic type nodded several times. " _Yes. Master… and friends...family."_

"Man, you guys really do connect quickly. Guess you're getting a name, then… how about Celeste? A pretty name for the pretty girl?"

Celeste's horns shone a bright red and she shrank back from the compliment, though a smile played across her face. Brendan ruffled her hair with a laugh, noting that her head seemed to have warmed up slightly, then walked out of the Pokemon Center, his three Pokemon flanking him.

Emerging onto the streets of Rustboro, Brendan took in the sights that he had been unable to see earlier, due to arriving at night. While the significantly more modern looking Pokemart stood directly in front of him, the Pokemon Center was otherwise surrounded by tall stone apartments. A sign hanging off of one of the apartments noted that he was in the Devon Corp. employee housing block.

Brendan was prepared to look around more, when a voice called out to him from the west side of the block. Looking over, he could see a middle-aged man sitting outside of, bizarrely, a small one story house, dwarfed by the apartments and even the Pokemon Center. There was an old looking Scyther with chipped blades sitting next to him. Brendan approached the waving man.

"So, young'un. I take it yer one o' them Pokeyman trainers, am I right?"

Brendan was taken aback by the man's speaking pattern. "Uh, yeah. I train Pokemon. Can I help you, sir?"

The man laughed aloud. "Hah! Sir, he calls me. Now listen here, sonny, do I really look that-OW!"

A pen came flying through the house's open window and bounced off of the man's head. A woman's voice came from inside the building. "Dad, stop messing with him. You're not even fifty yet, stop acting like you're an old geezer!"

The man rubbed his head and glared through the window. "Damn it Julie, one of these days you're going to get me with the sharp end of that thing." Ignoring his daughters follow up taunts, he turned back to Brendan, who was snickering at the argument. "So, now that I've been exposed as the young fraud that I am, how would you like for me to give you a little present?"

Brendan looked around nervously. "What do you mean by that, exactly."

The man chuckled at Brendan's distrust. "Someone try to mug you recently, kid?" He reached into a bag sitting under his chair, missing Brendan cringing at how close the man was with his joke. He pulled out a disc and handed it to Brendan. "I'm being serious here, though. This little disc helped me clear out half the land for this city, and I figured I'd pass it on to anyone who might need it."

Brendan examined the disc. It was mostly nondescript, except for the **HM-01** stamped across the middle. "What is it?"

"That, my boy, is HM-01 Cut. Teach that to your Pokemon and they'll be able to take down the toughest trees with ease, among other things."

Brendan raised an eyebrow as he continued to look over the disc. "Why do they need a specific move to do it? Your Scyther looks like he could do it fine without anything special."

Alan spoke up. " _I can explain this one, Brendan. Cut generates a special kind of energy that allows the Pokemon to cut through things without damage and at a much faster pace. You could just send, say, a Scyther at a tree and they'd take it down naturally, but it would take much longer, and the Pokemon would likely be hurt afterwards. I assume that's what happened to your Scyther, sir?"_

The man grimaced. "Yeah. Had him chopping down trees for a few weeks before we got the HM. Chipped his blades up something awful." The Scyther let out several irritated sounding clicks.

Brendan slipped the disc into his backpack. "This is awesome, sir. Thank you."

The man waved off the compliment. "S'nothing, kid. One caveat, though. You need to have earned the Stone Badge from our Gym before you'll be allowed to teach it to your Pokemon." Brendan's confused expression prompted him to keep talking. "Well, really it could be any badge, but the League likes to make sure Trainers know what they're doing before they let you teach your Pokemon moves that will more than likely affect other humans."

Brendan stared at him suspiciously, his eyes half closed. "... You mean like every other move they could possibly do?"

The man snorted. "That's the spiel they told me to give, kid. I just wanted to hand this out to anyone who needed it, but nooooooooo, it's all 'you need a license' and 'there are conditions' and…"

Brendan and his team backed away as the man built up a head of steam, the multitude of objects flying through his window to bounce off his head doing nothing to dissuade him. Crossing the main road, the man's rant echoing off the apartments behind him, Brendan spotted a building with a sign that said **Trainer School**. He paused in front of it, glancing down at his team. "So, you guys want to go learn something?"

Two grumbling Pokemon and a vehement " _No"_ in his mind later, Brendan walked through the door, trying to buck up his Pokemon's spirits. "C'mon guys. At the very least, I can get something that points out type advantage for me."

Alan spoke up. " _Brendan, I've had that data installed ever since we left Littleroot. And you're the son of a Gym Leader. You shouldn't need-"_

"Alan, I have been homeschooled my entire life. At least let me see what the inside of a school looks like."

Alan got the message and powered down, leaving Brendan free to explore the building. The interior of the school was similar to that of an old style one-room schoolhouse, with rows of desks taking up most of the floorspace, and a blackboard at the back of the building. Said desks were filled with children, all of them staring at Brendan as he seemingly argued with himself. Their teacher was also looking at Brendan, a cough escaping his mouth.

Brendan jumped as he noticed his observers. "Oh! I'm so sorry, sir, I didn't think you were in class right now! I just wanted to take a look around…"

The teacher shook his head. "It's alright son. Did I hear you say you were looking to learn about type advantage? That's actually our next lesson. Would you and your Pokemon be willing to be part of a demonstration for me?"

"Are you sure? I don't want to interrupt anything…"

"It's fine. Some visual aids will help, and I left my Pokemon at home today. Come on up here. What's your name, son?"

Brendan started walking up the aisle, aware of the children's eyes boring into him. "Uh, I'm Brendan."

"Well then, Brendan. Why don't you introduce your Pokemon to the class as well."

Brendan arrived at the front of the class, his Pokemon taking up a loose semicircle in front of him. He introduced them, most of the children paying extra attention to Spitfire, who was an oddity compared to the much more common Ralts and Poochyena next to him. The teacher spoke again. "So! We're actually going to start with moves that would be ineffective. Does anybody know which of these Pokemon would have a move that would have no effect against another one?

The children were silent for a while, before a boy somewhere in the middle raised his hand. "The Ralts would probably have something that wouldn't affect the Poochyena, right?"

The teacher nodded. "That is correct. Brendan, would you be willing to show us?" 

Brendan nodded back, before looking at Celeste. "Celeste, can you use Confusion on Rex, please?"

Celeste waved her hands, a pink aura forming around her head. A second one formed around Rex, but instead of staying there and damaging him, like it had with the Aqua Grunt, it simply bled off the Poochyena, the energy dissipating. The teacher spoke again. "And that, children, is an example of how Psychic type moves are ineffective against Dark types. Now, moving on…"

Brendan spent the next hour answering and occasionally asking questions, though the

teacher thankfully didn't ask his Pokemon to try any more attacks, as those would have actually hurt them. When the bell rang and the children charged out the door, the teacher asked Brendan to hang back.

Reaching into his desk, the teacher pulled out a brown claw. He offered it to Brendan. "This is for taking up your time, Brendan. If you let one of your Pokemon hold onto it, it should let them get a speed advantage sometimes. Something about holding occasionally stimulates the right part of the brain, I think."

Brendan took the claw with a nod. The teacher continued speaking. "So, were you planning on taking on our Gym? Roxanne is actually a recent graduate of this very school."

"I was, actually. Do you have any tips for fighting her?"

The teacher smirked. "Well now, that would be a breach of my student's privacy, wouldn't it. I can tell you that she focuses on Rock types, that's public enough knowledge, but otherwise you're going to have to work out what she does on her own, Brendan. Good luck!" The teacher shook Brendan's hand and walked out the door, leaving Brendan thinking.

"Focuses on Rock types… Ugh, that means you're not going to be very effective in there, Spitfire. Guess you two-" He gestured to Rex and Celeste, "-will have to do most of the fighting in the Gym." Spitfire hung his head and scratched at the floor, before Brendan nudged him with a foot. "I didn't say you won't be fighting, Spitfire, you'll just be hanging back until it seems safe enough for you to get in and land a few hits."

Spitfire looked a little happier after that, and the small group exited the school, heading north along the main road. After a few minutes of walking, the Gym came into sight. Brendan saw a young man standing outside with a clipboard, looking rather bored. Brendan approached the Gym, and the young man looked up excitedly.

Brendan waved as he drew near. "Hi! Do I talk to you about challenging the Gym?"

The young man let out a huge sigh. "Yes. Thank God you've turned up, we've had no challengers for three days and Roxanne is going crazy. Just give me a few minutes to get everything ready and then you can come in." He dashed through the doors of the Gym before Brendan could say anything else.

After a few minutes that Brendan spent encouraging his Pokemon, the young man stuck his head out of the door. "Alright, everything is ready. I'll explain more about what you're to do once you're inside."

Brendan stood up and recalled his team to their Pokeballs. "Time to go win us a badge, guys!" He walked into the Gym, it's bright lights temporarily blinding him as he entered.

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.**


	9. Battle of the Badge

As the bright light seemed to press in on his skull, Brendan screwed his eyes shut and threw his arms across his face. "GAH! My eyes!"

There was a loud clunk and the pressure on Brendan's eyes lessened. Opening them up again, Brendan saw the young man from outside standing next to a lever, a guilty grin on his face. He moved away from the wall and patted Brendan on the shoulder. "Sorry about that, man. I forgot how powerful these display lights are."

As the stars cleared from Brendan's eyes, he saw the interior of the Gym. It seemed to be split in half, one part being a museum, while the other was a large mass of rock that seemed to have a maze cut out of it. Rising above it all, he could see a massive fossil embedded in the stone wall, which was some sort of winged Pokemon. Looking up, Brendan saw several large flood lights hanging over the museum portion, which must have been what blinded him so badly upon entering the building.

Shaking his head and clearing the rest of his vision, Brendan stepped forward to look in some of the display cases. After getting his fill of the various fossils and rocks stored within, he turned back to the waiting Trainer. "So, uh, what exactly are the rules of doing this? Dad always told me each Gym had their own way of doing things."

"Our rules are pretty simple, you just have to make it to Roxanne. There will be Trainers in the maze, and you can fight them or sneak around, your choice. You can use all the items you want to heal or whatever, but if you leave the Gym, you can't come back until tomorrow, to give everyone time to rest up. Oh, and Roxanne will have her own rules for her fight. Any other questions?"

Before Brendan could answer, a girl's voice echoed across the building. "Larry! Is the challenger ready?"

Larry rolled his eyes before shouting back. "He's on his way now, boss!" He looked back at Brendan. "Yeah, I would hurry up if I were you. Roxanne is smart as hell, but she gets kinda twitchy if she doesn't have anything to do for a while. Good luck!" Larry grabbed a clipboard off of a desk and walked out of the Gym, likely to wait for other challengers. Brendan walked through the museum towards the entrance of the maze, his fingers running over his Pokeballs as he moved.

Before he could actually reach the entrance of the maze, however, a young boy jumped out from behind one of the display cases. "Hah! I caught you, so now we have to battle!"

Brendan flinched back, before his head shot back and forth between the fragile and _very_ expensive looking fossils. "Right here? It looks like we'd break a lot of stuff…"

The boy's face fell. "Ohhhhh, _that's_ why she told me to hide in the maze. I thought I just had to wait for you somewhere and fight you. I guess you should just move on then…"

Brendan shook his head and walked by the boy, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around as he passed. "Just walk with me and we'll fight in the maze. If Roxanne brought you out here to fight me, I might as well give you that fight." Brendan led the boy to the entrance of the maze, trying to size up who he should send out first. He noticed another boy further up the maze, who was ignoring the two of them and fiddling with his phone.

Brendan's opponent made the decision of who to use a little easier by throwing his Pokeball first. With a flash of light, a Geodude appeared, shocking Brendan a little. "You guys have those in Hoenn too? Weird. Let's start with you, Rex!" The Poochyena burst from his ball with a bark, facing down the Geodude and his Trainer.

Brendan's opponent made the first move, pointing dramatically and shouting. "Use Tackle, Geodude!" The Rock type began floating towards Rex, picking up speed as it braced itself with its arms.

"Use the walls, Rex! Try to get behind him! Then use Ice Fang!" Rex barked a response, before charging directly at the oncoming Rock Pokemon. Brendan clenched his eyes and groaned at his Pokemon ignoring orders, but when he opened them up again he could see Rex veering off to the wall on the right. The Geodude tried to speed up and hit him, but Rex leaped at the wall, pushing off of it and soaring over the Geodude as it zoomed past. Rex came down and spun on his paws, jumping after the Geodude as it tried to slow itself down by jamming its rocky hands into the dirt.

Rex's icy fangs clamped down on one of the Geodude's outstretched arms, producing a crunch that left both trainers wincing. Geodude wrenched its newly iced arm out of Rex's mouth and used that momentum to bring its other fist around, slamming it into Rex's side. Rex flew away and bounced off of the wall, Brendan yelling out his next order.

"Use Sand Attack, Rex! Blind him!" Rex skidded to a halt and got back to his feet, before kicking at the floor of the maze, sending a cloud of dust into the Geodude's eyes. The Rock type flinched back, scrubbing at its eyes. Rex then jumped out of the way as Geodude tried to follow its trainer's order for "another Tackle!" the Rock type flying past and trying to skid to a halt once again.

"Use Ice Fang again, Rex!" Rex charged after the Geodude once again, the Rock type too busy trying to clear its eyes to notice the incoming attack, even with its Trainer yelling at it to dodge. Rex's fangs came crashing down on the Geodude's central body, and it flailed its arms as icy "veins" began forming around its core. Several blows slammed into Rex, and he was eventually knocked off, rolling to a halt in front of Brendan.

Rex picked himself up and stared down his opponent, Brendan following his gaze. The Geodude was breathing heavily, the lines of ice around its body seeming to creak in time with each breath. The young boy across from Brendan was looking at his Pokemon with concern, before pulling out a Pokeball. "Sorry, Geodude, you're done for now. This counts as him going down, alright? I don't want him fighting any longer."

"It's fine. I don't want to hurt your guys any more than you want them hurt, kid."

The boy returned Geodude to its ball with a flash of light, before pulling out a second ball. "This fight isn't over, though. Go, Geodude!" A second Geodude slammed into the floor, before floating up and baring its arms.

Brendan jumped at the second Pokemon he had to face. "Oh crap, you have two? Rex, you're done for now, too." The Poochyena tried to protest, but he was pulled back into his ball before he could let out more than a bark. Clipping that ball onto his belt, Brendan pulled out Celeste's. "Your time to shine, Celeste. Let's go!"

The Ralts landed on the ground with a little flourish, before looking back at Brendan. (He assumed she looked at him, he still couldn't see her eyes under the hair). Her voice invaded his head once again. " _Plan...Master?"_

"Can you do short range Teleports? Use that to stay away from him, and just keep hitting him with Confusion, I guess."

" _Yes."_ With that short answer, Celeste vanished with a loud pop and a bright flash, blinding Brendan momentarily. Another pop sounded further up the corridor, and as his vision cleared he saw Celeste standing on the opposite side of the Geodude, her psychic aura already forming.

Geodude spun around and began charging in an attempt to Tackle her, but Confusion's pink aura suddenly flared around his head, sending him curving off to the side as he tried to regain his senses. Celeste flashed back in front of Brendan, the light only dazzling him slightly this time, and waited for another order.

Brendan pursed his lips as he tried to think of any other order he _could_ give. "Do you

know anything other than Teleport and Confusion?"

Celeste thought for a moment, paying attention to Geodude, who had shaken off the Confusion and was looking at her with an annoyed expression. " _Double Team… illusion."_ She waved her hands in a mystical fashion, in an attempt to explain her point.

Brendan grunted. "So clones, teleportation and one attack? I guess we can work with that. We just need to LOOK OUT!" Both Brendan and Celeste had taken their eyes off of Geodude during her explanation, and the Rock type had taken advantage of their lack of attention to charge. Celeste whirled around just in time for a very solid Tackle to ram into her, sending her flying back.

Celeste skidded along the ground, bouncing a few times before she vanished once more. Three of her appeared in a triangle around Geodude, all of them with the initial light of Confusion appearing in front of them. Geodude spun around, trying to pick out the real Ralts, before charging at the one his trainer had pointed at.

He passed right through her, the two illusions fading away as he did, and his momentum was so great he wound up slamming into the maze wall. Bouncing off, Geodude turned around and began racing toward the real Celeste, just in time for the pink aura to descend around his core once more, rattling his brain. Geodude wound up rushing forward in a daze, slamming into the opposite wall and falling to the floor.

Celeste flashed back to Brendan's side once more, waiting for Geodude to pick himself up. When the Rock type failed to move, Brendan spoke up. "I think he's down for the count, kid. You have anyone else?"

The boy sighed as he returned Geodude. "No, he was my last. I guess you won this one. Good luck with the rest of the Gym!" He walked past Brendan, pressing a small bundle of bills into his hand as he passed, before exiting the maze, likely heading for the Pokemon Center.

Brendan released Rex and Spitfire and began digging through his bag, pulling out some Potions while Rex barked at him, annoyed about being pulled out of the fight. "Relax Rex-hold still, buddy, I need to patch you up- you'll get to fight more. Do you guys want to go against the other Trainers, or do we just want to go straight to Roxanne?"

His three Pokemon talked as Brendan finished spraying down Rex and moved onto Celeste. After he finished washing down the bruise that was forming where she had been hit, Celeste spoke in his mind. " _Fight...Roxanne."_

Brendan clapped his hands, having put the empty Potion bottles back into his bag. "Right, now I just need to find my way through this maze." He returned Rex and Spitfire, leaving Celeste out for a moment. "Hey Celeste, can you read my mind with your telepathy? Seems like it would be useful in battles if I don't have to give you an order out loud all the time."

Celeste tilted her head, intrigued by the idea, before straightening back up and searching around for her Trainer's thoughts. Her mind was filled with silence for a moment, before she focused harder, directing more of her attention to Brendan.

" _...hear me? Can you hear me, Celeste?"_

The Ralts jumped, before clapping her hands. _"Yes! Hear...Master!"_

Brendan scratched his chin. "Huh, neat. Probably going to forget all about that until it's past the point of usefulness or something, but it's nice to know you can do it. Alan, did you know Ralts could read minds?"

The Pokedex powered up. " _Most Psychic types can, but it's always nice to have confirmation of what species can do it. I'll make sure to add it to her entry."_

Brendan crouched down and rubbed the excited Pokemon's head. _"Alright, I have another question for you. Can you Teleport us up to Roxanne's platform? Or do you need-"_

A pop and a bright light in front of Brendan's face cut off his train of thought, along with a strange pressure suddenly covering his whole body. The pressure vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, however, and Brendan found himself standing on the platform at the far end of the Gym, a girl staring at him wide eyed.

Brendan's vision blurred and his head swam, and he sat down heavily, Celeste gasping next to him. He reached out to touch the Ralts, trying to confirm she was alright. "You okay, Celeste? Ugh…"

She looked at him with a strained smile. " _Okay… tired."_

Brendan let out a relieved sigh and laid back, his head beginning to clear from whatever the Teleport had done to him. He heard shoes clopping across the stone floor, and looking to his left he saw a pair of pink clad legs standing next to him. Following those up, he saw a girl looking down at him with concern.

"Are you feeling well, sir? Do you require me to call Nurse Joy in here?"

Brendan groaned and pulled himself to his feet, head still spinning slightly. "No, I'm alright. I think it's just nausea from teleporting, or something. You're Roxanne, right?

The girl straightened back up, her face becoming more serious as she realized who Brendan was. "Yes, I am. And would I be correct in assuming you're my challenger for this afternoon? I usually greet the challenger at the entrance, but you were a bit of a surprise."

Brendan nodded, wincing as his head twinged a little bit. "Yeah. My name's Brendan. Nice to meet you." He extended a hand, which Roxanne shook. Looking down at Celeste, who seemed to have recovered, he continued speaking. "So Larry said you would have your own set of rules for the fight. What are they?"

"We both use the full extent of our teams- My team consists of two Pokemon, I am not aware of how many you possess- and we can switch out at any time, as long as the Pokemon is still capable of combat. I do permit item use in my battle, so feel free to utilize those if you have them. Whoever has Pokemon still conscious at the end of the battle will be declared the winner. The stakes of this battle are a cash prize and the Stone Badge." She pulled out what appeared to be two brown arrows, with one reversed and sat on top of the other, and displayed it to Brendan.

Brendan took in the appearance of the badge, before looking back to Roxanne. "D'you always sound so formal when you talk to people? Sorry if that's how you do it normally, but it's really throwing me off compared to everybody else I've met in town."

Roxanne flushed slightly at his observation, an embarrassed look on her face "I-I apologize. I am still… **I'm** still adapting to getting out of Trainer School and the Leader examinations. I was a little… serious when I took them, and that's hung around, according to most of my staff. Anyway, are you ready for the final battle of your Gym challenge?"

Brendan nodded once more, but Roxanne was already walking across to her half of the battleground. The young boy Brendan had seen in the maze came jogging up the steps, shooting an annoyed glance at Brendan before running to the side of the field and pulling out a flag. He held it above his head and shouted. "The battle between Roxanne, the Gym Leader, and Brendan, the challenger, will now begin. The contest is full party, free switching. Does either contestant have anything to say?" Brendan and Roxanne both shook their heads, and the boy swung the flag down. "Begin!"

Roxanne lobbed her first Pokeball onto the field, yet another Geodude popping out and crashing to the ground. Brendan glanced down at Celeste, who was once again standing tall. "You ready, Celeste? _You want to give the mind reading a try for this fight?"_

Celeste nodded and walked out to Brendan's side of the field. " _Ready, Master!"_

Brendan observed Roxanne's Geodude, who was simply floating there, awaiting either an order or an attack from its opponent. " _Do the same as you did in the maze. Teleport, then use Double Team as soon as you appear, then attack with Confusion. Try going to the left first."_

Celeste nodded again, popping out of sight with another eye splitting burst of light at the same time as Roxanne yelled an order.

"Use Rock Tomb, Geodude!"

Large chunks of rock were torn out of the ground around the Geodude, before flying towards where Celeste had been standing. The rocks slammed into the ground in a pile, a few chunks breaking off and rolling to a stop near Brendan.

Brendan stepped away from the rocks, watching as Celeste appeared, along with some illusions, before shouting across the field. "So what happens if there isn't any rock around to use for that move?"

Roxanne shrugged. "Rocks just appear, no one has ever really worked out how."

"Huh, weird. _Celeste, use Confusion and then Teleport back to me!"_

Celeste generated a pink aura, but was forced to abandon the attack when Geodude correctly guessed which of the three Ralts in front of her was the real one, and sent another Rock Tomb screaming towards Celeste. Celeste vanished and reappeared in front of Brendan, a second rock pile decorating her previous position.

Brendan narrowed his eyes as he observed Geodude, who was waiting for an order from Roxanne. " _Celeste, do you think you can teleport above Geodude and then hit her with Confusion? Would probably make it easier to avoid Rock Tomb, too."_

Celeste nodded. " _Will-"_

Whatever else she was going to say, Brendan didn't hear, as she flashed out of existence once again, yet another Rock Tomb slamming down where she was moments before. A flash of light about twenty feet above Geodude signaled Celeste's return, the Ralts once again charging her Confusion. Her concentration broke when Roxanne shouted her next order, the Psychic energy spiraling away from her.

"Geodude, use Rock Throw!" 

Brendan paled as Geodude ripped a chunk of rock out of the ground. "Oh yeah, you would have more than one move…" Brendan decided to abandon the telepathy experiment, in favour of getting his point across _now_. "Celeste, Teleport down!"

Celeste flailed as she tried to focus her power for the Teleport, but the stress of falling and an imminent attack kept her from succeeding. Geodude's rock flew through the air and slammed into the falling Psychic, sending her flying back. Celeste crashed down behind one of the rock piles near Brendan, the boy worriedly examining her as best he could without running onto the field.

"Are you okay, Celeste? Do you need to switch out?" Brendan wasn't entirely sure when he had pulled out the Potion, but one was sitting in his hand, ready to be sprayed.

Celeste shook her head and got back to her feet, dusting herself off. She looked back at Brendan with a small grin. " _Fine...keep fighting!"_ She disappeared in a flash of light once again, Brendan groaning as she popped back into existence behind Geodude.

"And here I was thinking she was the careful one of the group." Brendan muttered to himself. He then yelled across the field. "Celeste, get back here! Confusion takes too long to fire!" To punctuate Brendan's point, Celeste was forced to abandon yet another attack by the pile of rocks that slammed down less than a foot away from her.

Celeste flashed back behind one of the rock piles near Brendan, a sigh escaping her. Brendan crouched down to her level, wincing as a misplaced Rock Throw soared over his head and flew into the maze, getting a shout of fright from one of the Trainers in it. "Celeste, do you know any sort of attack besides Confusion? I think Geodude is always going to outpace you if that's your only move."

Celeste thought for a moment, flinching when a rock slammed into her cover. Her eyes lit up when a thought came to her (not that Brendan saw; her hair was still in the way). " _Shout!"_

Brendan gave her a confused look. "What do you mean, Celeste? How are you supposed to shout if you can't talk?"

Celeste waved off his observation and teleported out into the field once again. Reappearing alongside two illusions, all three of the Ralts opened their mouths. Brendan grimaced, unsure of what his Pokemon had planned.

A circle of hearts burst from Celeste's mouth, alongside a hauntingly beautiful, yet incredibly loud, shriek. The hearts rocketed across the field, even making a sharp turn as Geodude tried to dodge out of the way and slamming into her. The Rock type clutched at her core, her hands covering what Brendan could only assume were her ears.

Brendan stared for a moment, before pulling Alan out of his pouch. He noticed Celeste teleporting to a new position as he looked down at his Pokedex. "Alan, what was that move?"

Alan responded in a confused tone, one Brendan never thought he would hear coming from a computer. "I'm 99.9% sure that was something called Disarming Voice, but it's kinda been assumed that the Pokemon needs the ability to vocalize to use it. You're just all about collecting the anomalies, aren't you, Brendan?

Ignoring that last jab, Brendan looked back to the field, wincing as Celeste let off a second Disarming Voice and was blasted with another Rock Throw for her efforts. "Well, I'm certainly disarmed. Celeste, come back! You're taking a break for now!"

The Ralts flashed back across the field to Brendan's side, the boy already tossing out his next Pokemon. "Alright, Spitfire. Geodude's pretty worn down, you can take her! Use Sand Attack!"

The Torchic was already charging his opponent before he had even fully reformed from the ball, Brendan crouching down to heal Celeste behind him. Spitfire weaved around the various rock piles left from Geodude's earlier Rock Tomb rampage, several more rocks going flying past him as Geodude tried to knock him down. Hurdling one last pile, Spitfire dashed to the left of Geodude, his right foot dragging through the dirt to send a cloud of dust into Geodude's eyes.

Geodude flinched back, her next Rock Throw going wide and slamming into one of the Gym's walls. Spitfire looped back around and began bearing down on his target, Brendan yelling his next order across the field. "Use Ember, Spitfire! Just keep circling and take her down!"

Spitfire launched a small fireball into Geodude's back, the flames washing over her as she tried to locate the Torchic through all of the grit in her eyes. The Rock type didn't seem to be slowed down much by the fire, however, and began hurling rocks towards Spitfire's position. With the way her vision was obstructed, most of the rocks simply crashed into the dirt around the running bird. One rock did manage to clip him, though, sending Spitfire tumbling to the ground.

Spitfire rolled back to his feet and continued spitting fireballs, and Brendan could see Geodude beginning to slow down from the barrage. Roxanne apparently noticed as well, and pulled Geodude's Pokeball out just in time for one final Ember to slam into Geodude, knocking her to the ground.

After observing the downed Rock type for a few moments, the linesman raised his flag. "Geodude is unable to battle! Roxanne is down to one Pokemon against Brendan's three! Continue the fight!"

Roxanne sighed as she returned her Pokemon. "Sorry, Geodude, I should have pulled you out sooner." She pointed across the field to Brendan. "I'll show you why I was top of my class, Brendan! Nosepass, time to ace this!"

A large blue shape slammed into the dirt after flashing out of the Pokeball, though Brendan wasn't really sure what it was. He couldn't see any sort of face, though there did seem to be some arms facing towards the back wall of the Gym. Brendan just stared at the new arrival, feeling confused. He pulled Alan out again, pointing him at the Pokemon.

"Alan, what's-"

" _Nosepass has a magnetic nose, Brendan. It will always face north, though it does have impressive perception of its surroundings. I believe it's something to do with magnetic fields, but Professor Birch hasn't confirmed it yet."_ A frontal picture of Nosepass popped up on Alan's screen; the Pokemon looked similar to some island statues Brendan remembered reading about, with a bright red nose and eyes that gave off the appearance of being asleep.

Brendan shrugged at Alan's description. "Well, it can't always be paying attention, so we'll just have to try to make use of that. Spitfire, same thing as before! Circle it and keep using Ember! Weaken it for the other two!"

Spitfire took off running once again, fire flying from his mouth to splash over Nosepass. The new Rock type didn't react much to the attack, simply backing over the field towards Spitfire. Roxanne gave her order once Nosepass had gotten close enough to Spitfire.

"Use Rock Tomb, Nosepass! Trap him where he stands!"

Yet another bundle of rocks ripped out of the ground, swirling around Nosepass as Spitfire's Embers continued flying across the field. Nosepass hurled the rocks at Spitfire, smashing through the most recent Ember and continuing on to slam into Spitfire. Several of the rocks bounced off of the Torchic's head, and the poor bird wound up buried under rock, groaning.

Brendan winced as the linesman's flag shot up. "Torchic is unable to battle! Brendan is down to two Pokemon!"

Brendan returned Spitfire with a grimace. "Oh yeah, Rock beats Fire, doesn't it. Man, I had a lesson on this literally less than an hour ago, you'd think I would have remembered. Sorry about that Spitfire, you did really well. This is my fault."

Roxanne tilted her head, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Sounds like you were working with Mr. Jones, then. He was kind of bad at making a lesson stick the first time. Are you going to send out your next Pokemon?"

Brendan shook his head to clear it, popping Rex's Pokeball off of his belt. "On it. Rex, you're up!" He hurled the ball onto the field, the Poochyena popping out with a bark. "Alright Rex, keep moving and keep using Howl. If we can't have effective moves, we might as well have strong ones."

Rex immediately let out a piercing howl, the noise causing Brendan, Celeste, and Roxanne to cover their ears, though Nosepass didn't really seem to care. Rex was already moving as the resulting red aura burst into view, ducking behind a pile of rocks and howling again.

Roxanne shouted over the howls. "Nosepass, use Harden! Let's make use of that defense!"

Brendan's face gained an extremely annoyed expression, his eyes lidded, and he could see Rex looking at him from behind a rock pile with a similar one. "Yeah, I'd rather you don't shatter your teeth on that... New plan, Rex! Blind it with Sand Attack, and then Celeste can finish this!"

Rex dashed out from behind his cover, charging Nosepass as it started shining; Brendan could swear it actually looked a little more solid when the gleam calmed down. Rex looped around to the front of Nosepass, swiping his paws across the floor to kick up clouds of dust.

Brendan still couldn't see Nosepass' face, but the way the Pokemon's short arms waved at its face, he could assume that the dirt had landed on its face. A thought occurred to Brendan as he watched Rex rush back across the field, dodging rocks being flung by the blinded Nosepass. "Wait, Alan. You said Nosepass used magnetic fields or something, right? Is kicking sand in its face actually going to do anything?"

 _"Even Rock types don't like sand getting in their eyes, Brendan. I have it on good authority that sand is 'coarse and rough and irritating', and apparently it gets everywhere."_ The Pokedex sounded like he was trying to resist laughing, another tone of voice Brendan didn't expect from the computer. _"It's probably more of a distraction than actual visual disruption."_

Brendan turned back to the match, just in time for Rex to skid to a halt in front of him. "Good job Rex. Now we just need Celeste to hit Nosepass with Confusion or Disarming Voice enough, and we should win this. Out you go, Celeste. Time to win this!"

Celeste flashed back into battle once again, another Disarming Voice echoing across the field as she did so. The hearts slammed into Nosepass' back, which was answered with a misaimed bundle of rocks, which slammed into the dirt next to Celeste.

Celeste's teleportation and the distraction of the Sand Attack kept Nosepass from landing any sort of attack, a fact that was irritating Roxanne and likely her Pokemon, though Brendan couldn't really tell from staring at its back.

Roxanne tried calling Nosepass into range a few times, waving a red Potion bottle around, but Celeste's constant attacks kept the Rock type from getting back to its Trainer. Eventually, Nosepass hit its limit, and one final Confusion knocked it down, though it had finally focused enough to hit Celeste with a final vindictive Rock Tomb, trapping her in place as Nosepass fell to ground.

The linesman, who had been staring off into space, bored with the proceedings, snapped his head back to the field and raised his flag. "Nosepass is unable to battle! Roxanne is out of usable Pokemon, and the winner of this match is the challenger, Brendan!"

Brendan jogged onto the field with Rex at his heels and began pulling the rocks off of Celeste, while Roxanne returned Nosepass with a shake of her head. She walked onto the field as well, waving the linesman over at the same time. The boy pulled a small case out from a box at his feet and rushed out to where Roxanne and Brendan had met.

Roxanne held out a hand after Brendan finished freeing Celeste. "Congratulations, Brendan. You have won your first Gym challenge. It seems that I still have some things to learn about being a Trainer. Like finding a way to stop teleportation…"

Brendan shook her hand. "Thanks a lot, Roxanne. That was an interesting battle. It felt like it lasted a lot longer than it actually did, though."

The Leader shrugged. "More important battles always feel like that. Anyway, I am proud to present you with your Stone badge." Roxanne popped open the case held by the linesman, and pulled out the brown badge. She handed it over to Brendan and continued speaking. "This badge, being your first, authorizes you to use the Cut HM. I would also like for you to take this TM, alongside your cash prize." She pulled a stack of bills and a disc out of the case as well.

Brendan pocketed the bills and examined the disc. It was mostly plain, similar to the Cut HM he had received out in the city, though this disc was brown and labeled with **TM 39**. "So what's this disc for, Roxanne?"

"Rock Tomb."

Brendan was sure he heard Rex _hissing_ at those words, and the noise of sheer disgust Celeste sent through his head seemed to echo the Poochyena's opinion. He put the disc in his bag with a grin. "Love it. I'm sure my team will be so glad to use the move after seeing its virtues here. So many times."

Roxanne chuckled nervously. "Well, if it isn't broke, one shouldn't repair it, right?"

Brendan stared at her. "... Keep working on that whole informal thing, why don't you, Roxanne. And thanks again!" Brendan recalled his team and walked down the exit path, heading back to the front of the Gym. Passing through the museum, he left the building, almost bumping into Larry, who was once again lounging around in front of the door. The boy looked up in surprise.

"Oh, you're done already? How'd you do, man?"

Brendan flashed the badge from its new position on his jacket. Larry's face split into a grin and he offered a high five, which Brendan returned. "Nice job, man! So how was your first Gym!"

Brendan grinned. "It was actually pretty cool! I-"

"BRENDAN! HEY, BRENDAN!"

Brendan jolted as someone shouted his name, and turned around just in time to feel somebody slamming into him. His vision blacked out as he crashed to the ground.

 **I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.**


End file.
